


Perfect Contrast

by Divinion



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-17
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-08-23 01:24:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 44,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8308345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Divinion/pseuds/Divinion
Summary: No battle is like another. Every one of them can teach you, but some lessons you don't want to learn. Things go horribly wrong when Gray's magical container is shattered in battle and Natsu is the only one that can counter the iced blast. Complete.





	1. Breaking Down

In the world of Fairy Tail, and in particular ‘the _strongest_ team’, there were no two battles that raged in the same way. In every one of them they learnt something new about themselves, be it a new magical attack, a power inside of them that they had never known they had, or a personal revelation. Every time that they clashed blades there was something new to learn, a hidden truth to themselves that they were discovering. It was the important part of growing up, of being with friends and taking in every challenge with a new stride. Some lessons, however, were harder than others.

In this particular battle there was an unnaturally round man, laughing as he bounded surprisingly gracefully around twisted figures in all kinds of shapes and sizes. While the beasts themselves weren’t a difficult foe, they were exceptionally good at dodging and were taking too long to attack while time was truly of the essence. Erza swapped her requip magic time and time again but eventually stuck with her cat-like armour, the cute ears and a cheetah skin bikini giving her the additional speed she needed to take on the persistent ghouls. Though the monsters didn’t say anything, nor were they capable of any real intelligent behaviour, they seemed to mock her in twisting out of the reach of her fierce attacks at the very last second. Because of this she opted for her glaive, giving her a large room to swing and still able to push forwards when they jumped back. Lucy, though obviously with less intention, had the same tactical advantage with her whip. Her magical energy had been worn down with a previous attack and the Fleuve d'étoiles was her best weapon to hand now, but the way that it spiralled around her gave her a distinct advantage as it extended its reach the moment that the ghouls dived out of her way.

It was safe to say that the boys had a far less… elegant approach. Both Natsu and Gray were firing their magic in rapid succession, a wide spread carnage around them that destroyed everything in sight and very almost the companions that they had cared for. It was a combination of practise and skill that meant that somehow the fire and ice did not hit one another, as the two had fought together for many years. Both had been able to clearly remember when they first fought side by side and all of the times that they had both tried to attack the same target that had received nothing more than an inconvenient ball of steam. Back in those days, they had spent more time fighting each other than the enemy. Now, however, there was a silent communication as they moved into each other’s blind spots, the fire and ice never even touching one another.

The goal to this battle was a simple but an incredibly important one. The round man, who twiddled his moustache in an overconfident fashion, was standing on top of a giant golden cannon. His name was Hazoula, and though watching his ghouls getting destroyed in front of his eyes, he had been able to see not one of the Fairy Tail members had come close to him yet. “Hoohoo!” he chortled, spinning his round fingers around his dark black moustache. “Almost complete!”

Natsu looked up at him from the wave of flames, a determined look in his eyes. The only thing he hated more than losing was the losers believing that they had won. They always looked so damn smug just before his fist made contact with their cheeks, he decided as he clicked his knuckles against his palm. He couldn’t remember exactly what the cannon was supposed to do, it generally wasn’t his responsibility to have all too much knowledge of the plans at hand, but he knew that it was pointed straight at Gate of the Afterlife. That name alone told him that this was probably a gate that needed to be kept shut and that whatever the cannon’s power was would somehow open it. He pushed his heels back, pouncing forwards like a wild animal as he kept his glance pinned squarely to the round man. Hazoula’s eyes went wide for a moment, a smirk appeared on Natsu’s face the split second that he pushed the villain back to slam straight into the wall behind him, a streaming river of fire following.

The click was so soft that if Natsu hadn’t had the uncanny animalistic hearing he was certain he would have not heard it. As the moustache man slid down, the ghouls around them became slower and struggled to dodge out of the way letting his companions take the opportunity to begin a new siege of attacks, getting through dozens of the creatures as they stood helplessly still. Natsu watched them, a sudden sense of foreboding as he watched the control panel. It took him a few seconds to realise that the lever had been the other way before he’d knocked his enemy from his awkward position of standing directly on top of the cannon controls. There was a humming sound that filled the air, first caught by the dragon slayer as he watched awkwardly. “Shit…” he thought out loud. Light seemed duller around the barrel of the cannon, as if being sucked into its void. The humming grew louder as the darkness spread and a ball of light appeared at the end of the cannon, somehow similar to Jupiter in the most terrifying of ways.

Gray had heard Natsu’s curse and looked up, staring past the dragon slayer and towards the gaping barrel of light. The Gate of the Afterlife was behind them, its darkness somehow growing stronger and yearning for the light that the cannon held. It seemed to even edge closer, the universe bringing these two powerful weapons closer together as they reached to one another. Terror flashed in Gray’s eyes, and Lucy stopped her attack, staring back at the light with a tremble. Erza was the last to see it, glancing out of the corner of her eye as soon as she realised that her shadow was bending away from her, the new light gleaming against the metal spear of her glaive. Her shadow was now directly in front of her and in a terrifying moment she realised that the cannon was pointed straight towards her.

The world seemed to freeze in that moment. The ball of light pulsated and trembled expectedly before finally letting go, the shower of light hurtling forwards through the space and desperately trying to reach the Gate of the Afterlife. Erza, however, was in its way. Even for the fierce warrior there hadn’t been enough time for her to call on her powers and take her adamantine armours. In a cruel twist of fate she had her least protective of armour on, designed for a speed that still wouldn’t be enough to take her out of the way of the fierce weapon. She had been too late, but there had been another with more time. Gray, in his split-second reaction, had reached out to her. He screamed something, probably her name, but the blast had deafened them to whatever that might have been. He selfishly dived forwards, pushing his dear friend out of the way of the cannon and taking the full force himself.

The light blinded him quickly and in a horrifying moment he remembered exactly what it was like to be shot. It hadn’t been a real memory, a memory of a memory more like, but the sudden jolt was enough to replay the memories of dying back to him. He had remembered the shock that he had felt then, the feeling of his heart stopping with a jolt and trying to move his lungs into breathing. Those memories blurred into his body and he struggled to remind himself of the differences: He could breathe now, his heart was still beating, and this was an entirely different pain. His body was taking in the magnificent light but it felt like it was slicing through something more difficult than flesh and bones. He was weakening, a sensation that was so familiar and yet strangely foreign. A horrific tortured gasp left his mouth.

The cannon stopped. His friends were watching, both amazed that he was still standing and waiting for him to collapse. He didn’t move, he was too afraid that even if he moved for a moment then whatever pain was inside of him would materialise and he would be ripped into tiny pieces. That was what a cannon was supposed to do but this wasn’t a normal cannon. It wasn’t a cannonball that had struck him, it wasn’t metal or even anything physical. Nor was it like Jupiter and intended for simply destroying whatever it came across.

“Gray!” Lucy ran forwards, looking him over. She stared at him up and down and could see no hint of injury, at least nothing that hadn’t been there earlier in their battle. It would have been very obvious too, she realised as he had once again gone into battle shirtless. “What happened? Are you alright?” she asked him, trying to meet his eyes.

He was staring forwards, unable to believe it himself. He felt as if he was still staring death in the face, and death was laughing at him. It had more planned for him, it always had more planned, like a child’s yoyo it would pull him in and spit him back as many times as it could to watch how long it would be until he unravelled. Gray was going to snap here, he could feel it. Something inside of him just wasn’t _right_. Something was burning inside of him, a feeling that he couldn’t place, but there was a coldness in the pit of his stomach and a looming sense of dread.

His friends were around him, seeing the look in his eyes as he refused to look at any of them. They called his name, still in disbelief that he was even still standing. Then, all of a sudden, the ground shuddered. They looked around themselves, ready for the next beast and to defend their friend until they could find what was going on. Each of them dismayed that they could get attacked at a time like this, but Lucy screamed as she saw a huge pincer of gleaming blue crash through the ground, jagged edges straight up to the high ceiling.

They stepped back, looking at the creation in awe as another appeared behind them, more jagged edges and spikes as it rose. “Ice…?” The words escaped Erza’s lips as she stared up at it, feeling the cool air from the grand creations washing over her. Though the battle had left them hot and sweating, the cool air wasn’t pleasant and the magical energy only made her more confused.

Natsu sent a flame straight to the heart of the glacier and it shattered beneath his fiery magic. The temperature was still quickly dropping, however, and there was an awkwardly familiar sensation flooding each of them. Natsu knew Gray’s magic and was confident that this was his own ice creation, though he couldn’t explain how.

“I can’t… control it…” Gray said, his words slipping out of his mouth almost unnoticed. He was shivering now, not from the cold but from a raw fear and weakness that was running through him. He was fighting hard, but no one could see what he was fighting. Even he hadn’t understood at first, but seeing the twisted ice magic had only confirmed what he hadn’t wanted to believe. He was holding onto his magical energy like a gaping wound, trying to push it back and stop the bleeding. It was a losing battle, he knew already, finally understanding just how powerful the second origin inside of him truly was. Perhaps it went deeper that, he realised as he gritted his teeth so hard he could feel himself wanting to break. No, it was _definitely_ more than a second origin, this went straight down to the core of his magical ‘container’.

“Gray…” Lucy whispered, her soft voice washing over him. She was trying to be motherly, friendly, concerned for her friend but he could hear a shivering in her voice that only spread pain. “What is it? What can’t you control?” Her words were cut off with a scream as she was suddenly flung backwards, the ground beneath her feet shattering as she was pushed across the floor.

“Lucy!!” Natsu called out suddenly, feeling helpless when he couldn’t see a monster to throw a punch against. His wish was almost answered as Lucy lay awkwardly against the ground, trying to lift herself back to her feet. She moaned gently, rubbing her sore head, unable to see the silver ice as it dropped from the ceiling. Natsu noticed quickly, jumping forwards and planting himself across Lucy, his flaming fist pointed up to the sky. His fire easily melted the dangerous stalactite, crumbling it into a thousand pieces as Lucy could only stare at her good luck with open mouthed wonder.

Gray watched, his eyes filled with lost sadness as Natsu saved Lucy’s life from his creation. The ice around them was growing now, as if it had a life of its own, spreading and twisting as it sparkled against the flames of Natsu’s fist. “I can’t control my magic….” he whispered, realising now of what that meant. He could feel his body freezing and becoming more difficult to move, the cold feeling in the pit of his stomach now frozen and eating him from the inside. In a twisted sense, the world was starting to look more and more beautiful in a deadly way. The floor glittering like diamonds, the tiny shattering cracks sending painful snow hurtling towards the ground. Ice vines twisted around the windows, reminding him sorely of his master’s magic that she had so carefully taught him, reminding him of what it must have felt to turn entirely into ice. “You have to get out of here…”

Erza stared at him, open mouthed. She could feel herself torn between wanting to obey her friend’s wishing and the crushing guilt that this was all because of the blast that she should have taken and that she had been saved from. She was a mute, staring at him and knowing that there must be a way to stop this. She could see what he couldn’t, the ice creeping across his face, the paleness to his skin and the temperature dropping around him.

“You have to get everyone as far from here as possible,” he continued, and her eyes grew wide. This wasn’t just about her and her own guilt and self-punishment. She had people to protect, she always would have people to protect and put them before her own agony. “You have to get everyone as far as you can.” She looked out of the gap where once years ago there must have been a wall, which now only lead straight to the Gate of Afterlife. Below that, however, she could see the ice creeping out of the room. She could see where her guild members were trying to reach the Gate to ensure it never opened. Just how far was far enough? Just how many people would be caught in this iced prison?

She looked back at Gray, her eyes watering despite all of her best efforts. She didn’t understand what was happening but it terrified her. Behind she could hear Natsu yelling and a warmth licking the back of her armour. If she had turned she would have seen the ice melting, the dragon slayer running around like crazy trying to extinguish the cold. She had to be strong, she knew and she nodded to the ice mage. He was trying hard to be strong, and she had to as well. “Lucy, Natsu: You need to get everyone out of here as fast as you can,” she ordered them both, her voice stern and as cold as the room.

Natsu looked at her, stopping his fiery push back for just a moment. “Huh? What are you going to do?” he asked her, curious why she was still defying Gray when she had seemed to agree with leaving.

Erza pulled back her hand, a shining bright light appearing as she clasped onto the hilt of a blade from the other world. It felt good to have a weapon in her hand, it felt comforting to touch cold metal. Somehow in a blade there was hope, there was a determination. “I’m going to find Hazoula. I’m going to make him tell us how to stop this,” she said, her eyes glazing as she refused to look back, not even for a moment, to Gray’s freezing image. She didn’t want to think of the way that this could end, only the way that it could be stopped. She seemed to run two steps at a time, knowing that the strange round man couldn’t have gotten far but that he would have bolted at the first chance. Time was against her, but she couldn’t focus on that. There was a way around this.

Natsu stared after her, surprised by her sudden decision but also impressed. Now, at least, there was hope. There had always been hope for Natsu, however, but mostly because he hadn’t taken into account of the full situation. This was another adventure; this was going to be another great story. That wasn’t to say that danger wasn’t there, of course, but Erza was a responsible leader and if she said that she could fix this then he had absolutely no doubt that she would. Lucy squealed again as another block of ice crashed to the ground and Natsu was suddenly reminded that they had to keep up with their end of the bargain. He gripped his fist tightly. “Right. Don’t worry, Gray, Erza’s got this. We’ll get everyone back for now,” he told him, still not truly taking him in as he stepped away.

“Nat…su….” Something about the tremble in Gray’s voice made Natsu stop and look back at him. And really, really look. Gray was holding his stomach, a pain inside of him that by now he couldn’t differentiate between heat and cold. His body was turning blue and pale, barely moving at all. When he reached out and tried to grab his friend, his knees gave out below him. He fell, able to still hold himself up but barely. There was shivering, all kinds of shivering. A shivering from fear, from pain, from sadness, from concern, from weakness and from a blistering cold. It had been so many years since he had felt the cold.

Natsu’s eyes went a little wider watching him, still clinging to his denial and hope, but knowing that he had been called for. “Lucy… go on ahead,” he told her.

Lucy squealed, not sure that she could possibly handle such a big responsibility by herself. Then, there was the concern for her friend. Even a fire mage couldn’t be completely immune to the cold that was burning through her lungs. “What?!”

He looked back at her, his eyes dead set in determination now. A plan was forming in his head and he was wondering from the way that Gray was reaching out to him that he had thought the same thing. “I can melt some of the ice from here, and buy Erza some more time,” he said and the tone of his voice showed that there was no way that he would let any other logic talk him out of this. But he did look back at Lucy and smiled at her. “You can do it. You’ll have Happy with you too,” he told her, not even letting Happy have an option in this. Luckily the small blue cat didn’t complain and simply trusted Natsu completely.

Lucy panicked. She felt like she absolutely could not do this, she didn’t even know where to start. But all of the fear and concern in the world couldn’t block the fact that she was also really, really cold. She glanced back at them both, taking a small half-step back. She had to get everyone out of here, didn’t Natsu count? She took another small step back, his logic seeping into her. There was something that had always been difficult between a fire mage and an ice wizard being so close, and now perhaps they could use their contradictions to save everything. She stared back at Gray for a moment, and he nodded to her. He too wanted her to go, needed her to go. And she ran, as fast as her feet would take her.

The ceiling shivered and a huge chunk of it crashed against the ground. The ice was spreading, diving into every crack in the old building and pressing it open wider. There were creaks and crashes even beyond where they could see and the two had to wonder just how long there would be anything left. Natsu pulled his fists tight, the brilliant flames gathering around his fists and feet, twisting around him. He held them there, burning through the ice around him, before pushing out and engulfing them both in a cyclone of flames. The ice began to melt into water, licking against his flames as he was forced to push his powers further.

Gray bowed his head, shame washing over him. He gripped his fist tightly, unable to look at Natsu as he was on his knees, feeling lost and afraid. Pain was running through him, making his body tremble, but there was another reason for the tears that fell to the ground. “I’m sorry, Natsu…” The dragon slayer looked interested, the ice mage grasping his full attention for once. “I’m sorry for pulling you into this…”

Natsu tried to process his words for a moment, taking longer than usual as he also concentrated his flames to fight against the growing water from outside and ice from the inside. He only stared at him blankly, wondering why there was anything for him to be sorry about. They were Fairy Tail, they were nakama, and that meant that they would look after each other no matter the consequences. He gave him a warming smile. “Just hold out until Erza’s back, OK?” he told him, still confident in the requip wizard.

Gray tilted up his head and Natsu now could see the tears that had frozen against his cheeks. He could see the blue glistening against his skin, and suddenly knew that in front of him was more ice than human. There was a sharp and unexpected pain in Natsu’s chest as he saw that, and even more as he saw Gray’s shaky hand lift up towards him. “Help… Me…” he asked, his voice weak. Natsu wasn’t sure if he had ever heard Gray speak those words to him but he knew in that moment he never wanted to hear them again. There was something broken inside of them, something that desperately needed something to hold onto.

Natsu told himself that his body was the warmest part of the magic. He told himself that this was the real reason that he was on his knees, why he ignored the hand that Gray had reached out and instead pulled him close to her chest. He told himself it wasn’t a hug, it was a way for magic to spread to the coldest centre and protect his friend from the magic burning inside of him.

Gray gasped, barely able to understand but for a moment he could feel true, real heat. He could feel his limbs, he could feel tears on his cheeks and he could feel strong arms wrapped around himself. He could feel his own weakness, too, feel himself leaning into it more than he had ever wanted to. His eyes closed. “I can’t hold on any longer…” he warned Natsu, the magical energy trembling inside of him. This had only been the tip of the iceberg. He had tried to hold out for as long as possible. He could only hope that Lucy had managed to warn the others and get to a safe distance, and that Erza had given up her quest and ran as far as her legs would take her. He didn’t know if it would be far enough, but he could feel heat against Natsu. He could feel a faint shadow of warmth that should have been a blazing fire, and it would be over soon. One way or another. “Don’t hold back.”

Natsu nodded. He was afraid now, this felt like nothing he’d ever experienced before. He was holding his friend in his arms and had no idea how that this would end. He could feel the magical energy pouring out even before Gray had managed to give his warning, he had obviously been pushed well past his breaking point, and the dragon slayer knew that holding back was never an option. “Against you? Never.”

His magic was strong but so was Gray’s and suddenly he wasn’t so confident anymore. Natsu closed his eyes tightly, pouring everything he had into making the world as hot as possible. The flame of a dragon, or even stronger if such a thing was even possible. One burst of energy, twisting around him, and still he could feel the cold grasping his skin. It was so cold that it was painful and he pushed forwards through it, pouring every emotion that he felt into his magic. He was confused, afraid, determined, angry… Yes, angry. That was the one he tried to focus on, trying to pull it forward in his mind. He was angry that this was happening, that he had pushed the lever on the cannon. He was angry that he had known, deep down, that Erza had tears in her eyes as she left the room. And yes, he was angry that he had been made to stay. He was angry that he had to be put into this, that he had to fight it, that he always had to fight the stupid Ice Block. He was angry that he could feel his strength draining out of him, every last drop of magic flooding into fire. He was angry that Gray was leaning into him now, angry that he couldn’t feel him moving and he let out a deep, hoarse scream into the heavens.

Lucy looked back on herself, staring at the bright light in a sudden terror and awe. It was like nothing she had ever seen before, and there was something horrifyingly beautiful about it. She recognised its location straight away, the place that she had been running from and directing every else to escape from as well. There was a huge tunnel heading straight into the sky, the brightest and clearest of purples she had ever seen. The colour was so magnificent for a moment it made her want to cry, but there was a terror that held onto her that stopped her. “Natsu…” she breathed.

Erza looked up at the brilliant light, teeth gritted tightly. The light was a warning beacon, a symbol straight to the heavens that she had failed. The round mage was at her fingertips of course, but he had bumbled through his answers and hadn’t had the faintest clue how to stop the curse that had struck her dear friend. “Gray…” she whispered under her breath, pulling her hostage with her as she ran straight back, a prayer and a curse on her lips at the same time.


	2. Waking Up

Time ceased to exist.  
There was an endlessness. There was a darkness. There was pain. It was impossible to tell if it was getting better or worse when it was impossible to tell if time was moving forwards or backwards. There was also a lost feeling. A feeling of hopelessness, something inside that said ‘give up’. It was a voice that he had never heard before, a voice that he could usually drown out with laughter, good memories and fiery breath. Here, in this limbo, there was no fire left to attack the voice. It whispered to him, it hissed that all was lost, all was gone, that all should be abandoned. He tried to burn it away but it laughed at him. There was no energy left to burn. There was nothing inside of him, no light, just darkness.  
It felt like forever.  
Trapped within the four corners of his mind with no flames left to guide him. He hadn’t realised before now just what light his powers had brought him, what they did to his soul and to his heart. He couldn’t even see a flicker, couldn’t see anything left. It was cold. He realised this, realised that it wasn’t just devoid of heat, but actually consciously cold. And he had no flames inside of him left to fight it.  
He tried to keep his thoughts stable, trying to focus on everything he knew. He needed time, he needed warmth, he needed anything but this eternal cold. Something about the cold made him anxious, made him want to break out of his own thoughts and give up. He should have given up and let it take him away. There was still a struggle inside of him, he realised, and with that it meant that there was an end. If there was an end then there was a beginning, and everything in between was time. Though he couldn’t grasp it, it was there. The cold was losing.   
There were embers. It wasn’t much, but embers were enough to start a flame. They were enough to give him a sense of warmth, to keep the cold at bay. His mind still stretched endlessly in front of him but as long as he had these embers he had the promise of hope. Hope to keep the darkness away, light to keep the cold away. He watched it grow, he watched it form a weak blade of fire within the palms of his hands. There was magic inside his fire, his own magic. He couldn’t manipulate or grow it, but he could feel it dancing across his skin. It was real, it was his, and it had come back to him.

Natsu opened his eyes slowly and the world filled with light. There was more than just flame here, there was a bright white ceiling and bursts of colours all around him. Looking around himself he could see objects, mundane and bare but their brightness and realness made the flame inside of him dance happily. He looked up, seeing his friend Lucy sat beside him with her head in a book and the flame rejoiced. This was real, it was warm, it was everything that he had come dangerously close to losing forever.  
Lucy glanced over, hearing the bed sheets shuffle beneath her friend. Her eyes grew wide as she saw his peering back at her, a smile stretching across his face as he saw her. “Natsu!” she breathed, gathering the attention from anyone else who was around to hear it. Carefully and quickly she shut her book, placing it by her bag on the floor and leaning over the bed, staring back at the pink-haired wizard. He was awake, he was finally awake and deep down she could feel there was a light inside of her that bounced just from seeing him.  
Natsu pulled himself up and despite protesting that he should be resting Lucy helped him to do so. He looked surprisingly strong, she realised, probably even stronger than the rest of them. Though she had washed and changed, she had barely slept herself, waiting for the dragon slayer to wake up. He had slept enough for the both of them. “Are you alright?” she fluttered around him, awkwardly helping in whatever way that she could.  
Natsu could feel all of his muscles ached. It felt like he had after he’d eaten the etherion crystal, but this was so much worse. Everything inside of him screamed at him and he knew that pain would make it impossible to go back to sleep even if he had wanted to. He braced it, gritting his teeth and looking up at Lucy as he winced. “What the hell happened?” he asked, trying to piece together the last tangible memory.  
Erza was by his side now, standing tall and fierce, watching over with caution. She could feel her heart elevated that he was alright, but something pulled her back from rejoicing. He was out of the worst, but it was clear that her friend was still in some considerable pain and their next words may only make that worse. “You used up all of your magical energy,” Erza explained, a touch of anger resting in her voice. She looked tired, an emotional exhaustion that rested more in her eyes than in the rest of her body. She could barely look at him, focussing her mind on the anger that drove her forwards.  
“Used it all…?” Natsu said, not quite understanding. There was something missing here, some part that he couldn’t connect the dots to. He had gone all out before; he had pushed himself to the limit before. He had used his first origin and his second origin and even some from the next day’s reserve. He had slept for days those times as well and woken in this exact same bed before, he realised as he looked around the potions and cleanliness that told him this was Fairy Tail’s infirmary. “How long was I out?” he asked them, realising that for some reason there must have been something very different this time.  
“Three days,” Erza explained, her voice strained. Three days had been a waking hell for those that had remained. Three days had taken its toll on the S-Class wizard. Erza had spent her first hours yelling loudly, demanding that they fix this. She had spent the next pacing in panic. The next she had shouting and cursing to herself, trying to decide just how to punish them all. She had spent most of her time fixated on anger because it was easier to channel than fear. She had gone from emotion to emotion but always moved back to anger even as it exhausted her. The only blessing to wearing herself down with such a violent emotion was sleep came easier, though even as she had slept it had been in full armour, unwilling to let her defences drop for even the smallest of moments. Every second hurt more than the last, every tick of the clock haunted her. Three days had been a long time.  
To Natsu, however, three days felt like nothing. The memory of the darkness was already starting to fade, but there was something in that journey that tugged his memories gently. He remembered the embers, remembered the joy that had come from feeling the warmth again and how he had so carefully fought against the cold… Suddenly he remembered. “Gray!” he gasped. That had been his last memory, that had been what he had been trying to fight through. It wasn’t an absence of warmth; it was pure crisp coldness inside of him. He stared back at his friends, trying to push past the fact that neither of them met his question straight away. “Is he alright??” he demanded loudly.  
Lucy spoke, her whole body trembling as she did so. “He still hasn’t woken up…” she explained gently though the words seemed to hurt her. Three days was a long time to watch your friend recover but it was an eternity to watch two of them hang on the edge of a knife. She was drained, her eyes looking at the pink Fairy Tail emblem on the back of her hand and hoping that she could soak up some of her guild’s courage.  
There was something in her voice that told Natsu that it wasn’t just a rest. There had been times before that he had worn himself down to nothing and had pushed himself past his limits, but never had Gray woken after him. Even if he was constantly covered in bandages he would be awake, fighting alongside them, pushing himself just as hard. There was something wrong, but his muddled mind couldn’t place it. He didn’t want to place it. When he looked at Erza he realised that she was standing for a reason, hovering between him and his friend and hiding the ice mage from view.  
“Porlyusica said that the chances of either of you waking were slim,” Erza tried to explain, hoping to put some light into all of this. A deep frown rested on her face.  
“But I woke up. So he will too, right?” Natsu asked, grasping at anything to make that flame of hope grow stronger. He could feel the darkness and cold from before, he could feel himself thinking that the cold was losing…  
Erza gave the slimmest of smiles, knowing how much that faith meant to the dragon slayer. It was weak and did nothing to light her eyes, but it gave her the strength to say “Perhaps. We can only hope.”  
Lucy bounded forwards across the bed, her arms around Natsu’s shoulders and burying deep into him. She could feel herself shaking, exhaustion and strain taking its toll. She had been waiting for that one moment where she could hug her friend. “I’m so glad you’re ok…” she whispered back to Natsu. Part of it was to distract him, to let the hope linger inside of him without giving it too much thought and part of it was because she really needed that hug. She had watched over Natsu and Gray for hours on end, the thoughts of what a Fairy Tail would be without them creeping into her mind time and time again. She could feel fresh tears on her cheeks as she felt Natsu’s arm awkwardly around her, holding her back. A shuddering breath left her body, shaking her entire core and she realised just how much she needed this and how much she truly, desperately needed him. She had needed him to be warm again, to be smiling again. Even though she couldn’t see his face she could tell he was smiling, for her and Erza, because he had made it through the darkness and back to their light.  
They hadn’t been able get another word through before the healing mage Porlyusica wandered back through, Wendy tiptoeing behind her quietly. She was mumbling to herself in an irritated fashion so that she had hardly noticed the change in atmosphere to the room, glancing up at the three in the far corner staring back at her. She couldn’t deny there was a sudden elevation inside of her seeing the eyes of the pink-haired boy able to stare back at her, but she quickly reminded herself that this was just one more human to hate. A particularly annoying one at that, who had a habit of making her use her skills more often than she would have liked. Wendy, however, was clearly delighted, running across the room and jumping up to Natsu’s bedside. She stared at him with wide and innocent eyes, a small laugh on her lips as she saw him and filled with happiness. “Natsu, you’re awake!” she told him.  
He gave her a toothy grin back, glad to see the younger dragon slayer here. The thought of making these people hurt from worrying over him was unbearable. “I am,” he said simply, not quite sure how else he could have responded.  
Wendy looked back at him, amazed at just how brilliantly things had suddenly gone. She looked back at the elder mage, a spring in her step as she expectedly looked at her. “See, Porlyusica? I told you that they’re stronger than that!” she said, for once glad to be defying the terrifying lady if it meant that she could recover the life that they had once enjoyed.  
Porlyusica looked contemplative and a simple “Mm” left her lips, thinking carefully. It wasn’t that she had underestimated the power of Fairy Tail, that was a lesson that she had had to learn time and time again but it had still been the slimmest of possibilities. She would always be amazed at their strength, both in magic and in their resilience, and now had certainly surprised her. It was, however, her job to be the barer of bad news and to warn them of the worst case possible. Not that the stubborn guild members would ever listen to her warnings. “Idiot,” she thought out loud.  
Wendy trembled suddenly, wondering if she was referring to her. She followed the healer’s eyes, however, realising that they were pointed straight to the fire dragon slayer and memories of that word came back to her. It had been her favourite word over the last few days, spoken whenever anything came up or anyone got in her way. Most commonly, however, it was to refer to her patients.  
“I want all of you out,” the pink-haired healer commanded, her words leaving no room for defiance. “I need to examine him.”  
Erza visibly tensed. Lucy hung her head, knowing that even though Natsu had been there for only a moment the healer had all rights to make sure that he was here to stay. He had woken so suddenly and full of life that it was hard not to assume that he was perfectly fine without looking at him. She slipped back away from him, taking the book back into her shaking hands. “Good luck, Natsu,” she wished him, though she wasn’t exactly sure how luck was supposed to help now. Luck had at least brought him back, she reasoned, as she escaped the room bringing Erza and Wendy with her.  
It was only as they were leaving that Natsu realised that there had been another person in the room. As Erza moved out of the way he could finally see the other filled bed, where Gray was lying still. He had expected to see it and, if anything, to see an even worse picture, so while it stung more than he would have liked, it was something he had been able to brace and accept for just that moment. He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised to see the blue haired girl rise from the seat beside her beloved, reluctantly leaving the room. She did, for just a moment, turn back to Natsu. “Juvia is glad that Natsu is awake…” she whispered, so quietly that only his enhanced hearing could pick it up. She turned back away, going out of the door with slow and deliberate steps.  
Natsu felt like he should have said something back to her, but the sharp eyed healer was in front of him now, catching all of his attention. She unceremoniously judged him with her eyes, coming unnaturally close to his face and staring at him intently. Without so much of a word she took out her bag of potions and began to rummage, occasionally watching over him and making some acute assessment. Natsu couldn’t place exactly how she seemed to do her job but he was quietly confident that in those few moments of her glances and occasionally pulling on his arm or pushing his head back towards the light, she could see everything.  
“I feel fine…” he said, a little put off the fact that she didn’t think if he was in any pain was important for her assessment. Surely that should have been one of the greatest concerns but then he also suspected that she had a pretty good idea of exactly what was going through not just his body but his mind. That was a little unsettling to say the least. “Shouldn’t you be helping out Gray?” he asked her, partly to push her away from him with her incessantly keen eyes.  
Porlyusica glanced briefly over her shoulder and Natsu followed her gaze. Even after she turned back he found himself still staring, wishing for just a moment that he could see exactly what she could. “I will,” she said, though her cold tone made it very obvious that she was answering him because she chose to, and not simply because she was answering the human’s questions. She pulled out one of her notebooks, opening it across the table and letting a pen scratch gently against the yellowing pages. “Idiot children…” she said.  
“Hey! If you’re gonna pick on someone at least do it while they’re awake!” Natsu said quickly, folding his arms across his chest defensively.  
Porlyusica didn’t seem to notice. She continued to scratch her pen against the paper, occasionally glancing back at Natsu but only to make more of her piercing observations and not even meeting his eyes. She had been used to spending many years in her own company and from this there had been certain unsociable habits that she had picked up. One of these had been to not look straight at people, and the other was to speak to herself. Though Natsu listened as an obedient audience, he knew that the words were her forming logic within her own mind as well as his own. “Brats, is that what Makarov calls you? Hm. I can see why. Always getting yourself into trouble and who is left to pick up the pieces?” she muttered, swiftly turning the pages in her book and taking a few of the bottles in her hands. “Of course, let’s just ask Porlyusica, of course she’ll only be too happy to come…” she said, making her way over to the other bedside and dropping her things on the table there.  
Natsu slid off the bed, walking slowly behind her and watching as she repeated the same process to Gray. Somehow she was far more gentle to him, he realised, thinking that it must have had something to do with the fact that she knew he couldn’t talk back. As the great white wizard’s eyes followed across the sleeping figure Natsu’s followed the same path, trying to make out something. Everything was too still. He almost found it impossible to feel any anxiousness because he just looked like he was asleep, not even any bandages that could be seen. The only thing that made him curious was his breathing, hearing it was softer than he’d ever known it to be. “Will he be alright?” Natsu found himself asking, though a more accurate question would have been ‘When will he wake up?’ There was no doubt in the dragon slayer’s mind that he would, but people had a habit of looking at him like he was a stupid child when he came out with such wishful statements.  
With a small scratch of her pen against the paper, Porlyusica answered him in a slow, quiet voice. “If anyone else then I would have said there is no way that he could possibly wake up,” she admitted, continuing to write as she thought out loud. “At very best I would say he would be without his magical powers. However,” with this she gave a reluctant sigh, “I also know how hard you Fairy Tail lot are to keep down. So honestly, I wouldn’t know,” she said, almost as if it was an inconvenience that these children raced into the jaws of death and seemed to get absolutely no negative repercussions, running off to the next imminent danger. “Really, the two of you…” she shook her head. “This kind of stress isn’t good for Makarov’s heart, you know.”  
“Gramps?” Natsu blinked, not expecting to hear his name come up again so suddenly. Then he realised it, there were so many scents in the air that it had been nearly impossible to pinpoint just one but now that the name was in his mind he could smell the master clearly. “Gramps has been here?” he repeated, leaning over closer to Porlyusica to get an answer. Then her answer sunk in with a deeper fear. “He’s alright isn’t he?”  
She nodded, thankfully able to answer him far quicker than she had before. “Of course he has been here,” she said, knowing that her old friend may have even been offended at the idea that he hadn’t been a dutiful father to the children of the guild. She pulled out the smallest vial, opening it and pulling out tiny drops to place into the ice mages mouth while he was unable to drink or swallow. She had obviously been doing her trade for many years, as she didn’t need to concentrate much on her technique as she spoke. “Idiot children,” she cursed under her breath again.  
“Hey!” Natsu said, gripping his fists tight. This time it had annoyed him more than any other, though deep down he wasn’t sure why it should have. He’d been an idiot plenty of times, by plenty of people, and while he would normally spit flames at whoever would be stupid enough to insult him to his face he hadn’t had true malice inside of him. This woman was now irritating him and it wasn’t in a friendly way. “Why am I an idiot?!” he demanded to know. “I don’t even know what’s happened!”  
She glanced back to him and in that realised “No, of course you wouldn’t…” She had spoken these words many times, had been forced to repeat them many more to a confused and desperate guild, but they were important words to say. To Natsu especially, since this was the pain that he would no doubt be carrying for some time. “From the research that your friends have been doing about the Gate of the Afterlife, the Shinigami Canon is, despite its name, not an intentional weapon. It was never intended to be fired at anyone, but had it hit the Gate then it would have drawn all of the magical energy from outside of the portal in.”  
Natsu was certain that he was supposed to be understanding more of this than he did, but he let Porlyusica continue to explain in the hopes that eventually everything would click into place.  
“Do you know about the magical container?” she asked him, plainly seeing that he may have needed a very basic lesson to understand the next part of her words. She was, however, being surprisingly patient with him through this.  
Natsu’s brows knotted together. “Um, yeah?” he said, trying to trace back his mind. “It’s like… every wizard has one. The container that we draw our magical energy from, and it fills back up with time for the next day. And then there’s that second origin, which is like a second one, right?”  
Porlyusica nodded, knowing that the half explanation was all that he had truly needed to know right now. “Though I haven’t seen this particular spell cast before, I have unfortunately seen similar magic cast. The Shinigami Canon did not attack Gray physically, but it attacked his magical container. It will be a test of time to see how much permanent damage that this has left, but the attack did crack open the magical container inside of him and unleash all of his magical power. Though it annoys me greatly to say this…” she hesitated even as she did, unsure whether putting the thoughts into real worlds would help or hinder. She chose what seemed like the easier option, not wanting the Fairy Tail brats to come and pester her for more information later. She did, however, chose to rephrase the way that she would speak. “It was incredibly lucky that it had been Gray that had been hit.”  
Natsu looked at her, shocked. Though she didn’t look like she was intending to be cruel, the words hit him deeply. “Lucky?” he repeated. “What the hell? How is that lucky?!” he demanded to know. His friend was unconscious, he had seen the friends he had promised would never cry with tears in their eyes and pain in their hearts. Three days had been a long time to wait by someone’s bedside, and nothing felt lucky about that.  
“I overheard Erza say that Gray had knocked her out of the way,” Porlyusica explained, trying to clearly not rise to Natsu’s anger. “If it had been her magic, then half of Fiore may have been wiped out.”  
Natsu found himself taking an angry step back. Half of Fiore, possibly destroyed by something that hadn’t even been intended to be a weapon. He struggled to remember every minute from the bright light, replaying in his mind the moment that Gray had pushed Erza back and sacrificed himself to the uncomforting light. In his mind he hadn’t been saving half of Fiore, just one friend, and that was more than enough to give his everything.  
But Porlyusica wasn’t done with her explanation. “To say that, there are few ways that it possibly could have turned around without widespread destruction. The city of Arganon has to be thankful for that at least. Though I can’t know for certain, I suspect that even a younger, weaker mage would have sent a cataclysm enough to wipe out the entire city. With Gray’s powers, I even suspect that Magnolia would have been in danger.” Though Arganon and Magnolia were within enough time for them to have easily been transported with little worry, the distance between the two cities was still large and vast, and filled with people of all ages. These were happy lands, for the most part, full of laughter and joy that was completely unaware of how easily it all could have ended in a shroud of ice. “If you hadn’t been there to counteract the magic. But you’re still an insolent child.” Natsu opened his mouth to protest, but Porlyusica’s eyes stopped him in his tracks as she continued to talk. “Only because you are naturally opposing elements did you manage to stop him. And perfectly matched. If either of you had been even a fraction stronger than the other, just one drop of magic more, then you would have destroyed each other, you hear me? One frozen dragon slayer or one pile of ash.”  
From her tone of voice, he couldn’t tell if Porlyusica was impressed or angry at them. Logically it was most likely to be a combination of the two, but that was a common reaction to Fairy Tail members. Natsu just grinned proudly, scratching the back of his head a little awkwardly. “Yeah, well, it must have been an off-day for me. I’ll beat him next time,” he laughed, even if he was glad, for possibly the first time in his life, that the two of them were two sides of the same coin.  
Porlyusica narrowed her eyes at him but chose not to rise to his idiocy. She put the potions back into her bag, the notebook her very last possession that she put carefully at the very top. As she clipped it shut, she explained to him “You don’t seem to be physically injured, but the both of you drained almost every last drop of magical energy inside of your bodies. Rest, meditate, do whatever it is that you usually do to recuperate and you should see your strength return to you within the next two days. If you want, you can ask Wendy to lend whatever spells she has to help you gain your energy back.”  
Natsu hadn’t even realised he was tired. He had thought that he was standing tall, talking normally, as attentive as ever. Well, maybe not as attentive. No, when he thought about it he could feel that the tiny flame inside of him was still wavering, trying to gain the courage to fight off the cold it knew was lurking nearby. Natsu nodded. After sleeping for three days he knew that it wasn’t a tangible kind of exhaustion but the one that came from the pit of your stomach. There was, after all, only one thing in order to take that energy back and that was a nice tasty bowl of fire.  
He thanked Porlyusica and she walked out of the door, but not before she gave him a stern look that ran down into his soul. She told him to take care of himself, which he had thought was obvious, to not strain the master any further, and a reassurance that she truly had done everything she could. He hadn’t asked for any of the words of wisdom but it was rude not to accept them, even as he was a little impatient with her.  
For a moment he was left standing in the centre of the room. Porlyusica had gone to get the rest of his friends back to the room and he could hear her footsteps padding gently outside. They were outside, however, and he was inside with nothing but a frozen body for company. The seconds seemed to last an eternity, as if he was inside of the dream again. Magic was fuelled by emotions, he reminded himself, and standing staring into the distance did nothing to bring them back.  
He sighed as he pulled himself back on his bed, sitting cross-legged and looking back at where Gray was lying. He hadn’t looked at him much before now, only to take in what he had already been told and it felt strange to watch his friend sleeping. He could almost hear his insulted voice calling him a creep and telling him to leave him alone. But he was his only company, if only for a few moments, and in the quiet all he could hear was just how soft his breathing was. Natsu’s mind drifted back to all of the things that Porlyusica had said, about how they had been perfectly matched and how they had both together saved the world once again. It was just so very like them to take a victory and twist it into something that didn’t quite turn out the way anyone had expected.  
“Just wake up now, bastard,” Natsu said but barely even recognised they were his own words.


	3. Guild Goes On

As Lucy stepped back into the guildhall she was more than a little surprised. It had been days since she had spent any real time in these halls, staying by her friends’ bedside and only occasionally wandering back this way when she was forced to eat. The few times that she had sat, she remembered feeling a sense of uneasiness around her but she had assumed that everyone had just had just been worried about her friends. What was possibly what was the most unsettling thing about stepping in now was that everything just felt so very normal. The elder men lifted their tankards with grins on their faces and unashamedly looked at her rear as she walked past. Her friends waved at her and grinned and wished her all the best, and Mira tilted her head with a friendly smile. “Good morning Lucy,” she offered her kindly as she gently wiped down the glassware.

Lucy couldn’t answer her straight away, trying to realise why this felt so different to what it had, or rather why it was so similar to how it had been before her long days away. She could only presume that it was because of the dragon slayer that was now walking behind them. Even Natsu was acting completely normally, a grin spread across his face as he walked along. He was greeting everyone and everyone in turn was greeting him. Occasionally she thought she could catch small glimpses of relief in their eyes, a hint of something deeper still in there, but it disappeared before Lucy could grasp it and make any sense of it.

The small blue cat flew forwards, straight towards the pretty barmaid and went to stand on her bar. “Mirajane, can you get us some fish?” he asked her confidently. “Natsu’s really hungry too so you should probably get him lots of fish so he doesn’t steal any of mine.”

Mira smiled gratefully, understanding exactly what the small cat meant and what she could do for her friends. “I’ll bring out a Natsu special,” she said, no doubt referring to something that had the worst of spices and a raw flame dancing on the side. “And plenty of fish,” she promised too, seeing the growing disappointment in Happy’s face as she had obviously forgotten the most important part. The small blue danced and jumped up and down excitedly, thanking her over and over again.

The barmaid looked wistfully for a moment, pausing just before she turned back to the kitchens to retrieve their breakfasts. “So, has there been any more news on Gray?” she asked casually.

Happy’s ears dropped slightly, his tail drooping against the floor. “Still no change.” His ears lifted suddenly, his voice elevated as he announced “But Natsu thinks that he’ll wake up today! He’s sure of it!”

Mira tilted her head to the side as she gave another comforting smile. “Well, I hope that he does. Let us know when you hear anything, won’t you?”

“Aye!” said the little blue cat, and Mirajane disappeared into the back to pull up their breakfasts.

And that was that. Lucy felt her knees going weak, realising in a moment of horror just how twisted that this guild was. It had been five days now and she wanted to scream. The way that Mirajane and Happy had been talking made it sound like they were discussing the weather, not one of their dear friend’s life on the balance. It had only been the night before that Porlyusica had admitted that he’d only been kept alive by the concoctions that she had been dripping into him, but without a meal or full drink of water the ice maker was wasting away. The words burned inside her memory, making her want to cry all over again. Natsu had looked so determined then, Erza had a wild and panicked look in her eyes, but they had hope. There was hope, and then there was _this_ , whatever this was, she decided. People were laughing and drinking, gathering together and talking about the most mundane things. It was as if nothing was happening.

She was suddenly aware of Erza’s presence close to her, looking up and seeing that the requip wizard was towering over her. “You get used to it,” Erza told her in a hollow breath. Lucy looked at her confused. She hadn’t said a word, she had been sure of that, but the warrior was talking to her as if it was answering some burning question. There wasn’t a softness in her voice, but Lucy felt that there was supposed to be some comfort from it all the same. “This is Fairy Tail. And this is a very dangerous world,” Erza tried to explain to her. Lucy suddenly realised that Erza had seen straight through her, had seen the trembling in her legs and the way she had bit her tongue instead of screaming the place down. “We can’t afford to worry every time someone comes back late from a job, or ends up hurt or emotionally damaged, or there would be very little left to come back to.”

Erza’s memories were deep in her eyes, remembering how she had first sat in the corner of Fairy Tail refusing to speak to anyone else. She remembered the tears that ran down her cheeks and the young boy who had told her that she needed to stop crying. It hadn’t been the memory that she’d wanted to fixate on right now, not with the young boy now a man that she too was desperately worried for, but it had been her gateway to realising how Fairy Tail worked. “We smile for each other’s sake,” she told her, the faintest of smiles on her own lips. “Even when we don’t feel like we can smile. _Especially_ when we feel like we can’t smile.”

Lucy could feel the floor falling beneath her. From the first moment that she had stepped through these halls she had felt pure happiness emanating from these walls. It had felt like home long before she had settled in, long before she remembered what a loving home used to feel like. Of course they had had their bad days, and they had literally had to build the guild from the bottom up on several occasions, but there was always someone there who could shout and tell them to keep their heads high, there was always a smile that seemed to come from nowhere. “It’s all fake…?” she breathed in horror.

Erza looked at her in quiet confusion, thinking that she hadn’t quite understood her sentiment. “Does it look fake to you?” she asked. “Does it any other day?”

Lucy looked around the halls, seeing all of the familiar faces that she had grown to love. Yes, there was a definite love there, and no matter if their smile was fake or their heart was heavy it had made her feel warmth. She realised too, in the way that people watched over her, that she had spread her own smile over the guild. Most of them weren’t looking at her right now but sometimes just being there was enough to fill everything with a little more light. There was one person watching her intently. Natsu had a slightly raised eyebrow as he slurped the last of his food, wiping his mouth with the back of his arm. He didn’t say anything even after he’d eaten and was obviously thinking hard about what was the best way to avoid the dreaded words of ‘are you ok?’. He grinned instead. “Aren’t you eating, Lucy?” he chose instead.

She sat down, mostly because she wasn’t sure how much longer her legs would hold out. Her instincts to scream and run had subsided now, and once sitting she was instantly that little bit calmer. She sucked in a deep breath of air, letting the oxygen reignite her body and give her the strength to turn back to Natsu. She offered him the best smile that she could manage. “I think I will.”

 

There was a deadly quiet in the guild hall at night. Usually no one wandered these halls at such a late hour, not even the master or Mirajane would stay in the few short hours between the last drunk leaving and the sun rising for a new day. There were guild members of all kinds and they had to cater to all, but it was also important for the guild itself to have some downtime in the night. Tonight however, as had been the case for the last few nights, two shapes remained in the darkness.

Juvia closed her eyes against her will, feeling the exhaustion taking over her once again. She had been told several times that she would have to go home and rest, and sometimes she was actually dragged away kicking and screaming. It was easier when the majority of the women from the guild also lived in Fairy Hills and many were observant enough to notice when she had been away from her room for extended periods of time. There was also many who were also eager to help and take the responsibility of staying by Gray’s side in case of any change. Most times, however, she was the one who remained faithfully by her beloved’s side.

The nights may have had the smallest hours of quiet, but when there was nothing and no one else to distract her it felt the longest and bitterest hours.

There was at least the opportunity for her to look at the face of the man she loved without having to constantly hide and fear being told she was being creepy. It was, undoubtedly, a little creepy, but as long as there was no respite from him then she was content to gaze at him for long periods of time. She fluctuated in her happiness, occasionally elevated and glad to be able to make the most of the situation and watch his beauty for hours upon end, but other times she fell into a despair so deep the rain woman was certain she would drown in her tears. Tonight she was simply tired. It had been an emotionally exhausting day and she had managed to fight off the last girl who had tried to drag her back to her room. Tomorrow she would sleep, she decided reluctantly, because the end of the day would be a painful anniversary for her. It would have been an entire week by that point, assuming there had been no more signs of hope, and she wasn’t certain she could face that without more strength. Juvia had not been in Fairy Tail as long as the others, nor had she realised what Lucy had the other day. She had known in her heart ever since a young age that it was important to lift each other’s spirits, and had even gone so far as the advice the sulking ice mage of this on occasion, but she could also be a hypocrite and wallow in her own pain while it was clear the others tried to put on a brave face. At the seven day mark she would be able to do nothing less, she knew.

There was a knock from outside and she lifted her head, a burst of energy running through her. At first she had thought she’d accidentally fallen asleep, cursing herself and thinking that she could have never forgiven herself if something had happened while she slept. Looking up at the clock above them she quickly realised that even if she had been sleeping it had only been for a few seconds and it was still the dead of night. Mirajane wouldn’t be here for another four hours at least, she noted to herself. With that she convinced herself that she was imagining things – or worse, dreaming.

There was another knock, although this time it felt more like a bang. Cautiously she raised herself to her feet, looking at the door and trying to judge what she was hearing. Had someone come too early, or was it perhaps some drunk who had not realised just how late it was now? From the sound, she gathered that it was from the huge guild doors and not these smaller ones to the infirmary and she battled within herself as to how to move forwards. She looked back at Gray, knowing even before she did that he hadn’t moved an inch. She had memorised every tiny detail of his face and even closing her eyes could see it clearly. She thought of what he would do in her place, knowing that if there was someone knocking against the guild doors that needed help then that was what Fairy Tail would always try to offer. But she wanted to be selfish, she wanted to say that she wouldn’t leave the spot and that she would stay by Gray’s side. She closed her eyes tightly and sat back down, trying to convince herself that the sound was nothing and that it had already ended.

But it hadn’t ended. It was even louder this time and she knew in her heart no one knocked on guild doors at such a late hour unless there was something seriously wrong. She stood back up again, though it took everything inside her to do so. She kept looking between Gray and the door, slowly edging forwards. She considered kissing Gray on his perfect forehead before she left, but decided against it. She had images of their fairytale first kiss and didn’t want to ruin it by stealing one now from her sleeping beauty. “Juvia will be right back…” she did reassure him under her breath, sliding past his bed and taking in a deep shaking breath as she left the room.

Once out of the infirmary she quickened her steps considerably, already cursing who was at the door though she had no idea who they were. She told herself that it would be quick, that this was important, and that she would soon be returning to her dear Gray-sama. If anything it may have been a good thing that she was in the guild this late, as she would be able to calmly direct this person that the guild was closed but if they came back at a reasonable hour then everything would be resolved. She gained a bit of a confidence boost as she thought how she could handle this and make the most of the situation.

She walked to the doors, taking the huge brass handle and getting ready for the heavy heave to pull the door open wide. She stopped suddenly as she heard voices clearly through the door, far from the concerned cries or drunken slurs that she had expected. These were strong male voices, plenty of them, and the breathing and steps and clanking of many more around them.

“What are you waiting for?” the first voice said impatiently.

“There seems to be some kind of magical enchantment on the door…” the second said.

“Then stand back.”

Juvia let go of the handle and stepped back herself, her eyes wide as she stared at the wooden protection in front of her. She had forgotten that there had been an enchantment that was usually placed on the guild doors at night that prevent anyone with malicious intent to enter. The breath caught in the back of her throat. Malicious intent. The hairs on the back of her neck rose, staring at the wooden doors. Something about the voices had seemed less than friendly in itself, and the more that she stopped the more voices that she could hear.

Frozen solid to the floor, she gaped unable to even run as the very centre of the door glowed a bright and brilliant red. It fizzled and spat out melted wood, eating away at the magical enchantment almost gently. Then suddenly, the explosion. Juvia screamed, covering her face as the door splintered into a thousand pieces, slicing through the furniture and walls of the guildhall and narrowly missing her. In a moment there was nothing left but the smoking wreckage of what was once such a welcoming entrance and toothy, eager grins of tens of mages staring back at her.

“Hohoho… Hoohoo” the round man said, twisting his moustache in his fingers and staring up and down the rain woman eagerly. “There’s one fairy left!”

Juvia staggered back, though her feet suddenly felt like lead. Her eyes were wide, cursing her own inexperience and cowardice. If it was Natsu standing where she was, she was certain that he would have grinned and jumped straight into a fight, even if it had ended in pain and bloodshed. If Erza, she would have had the strength to give these violators a good talking to, echoing her words with a slice of her blade. In fact, almost anyone else would have defended the guild with their lives, she thought in one horrifying moment. Tears were in her eyes already, knowing that it was hopeless to take on these men. This wasn’t just a few straggling baddies, from the looks of things an entire _guild_ was on their doorstep and looking at her with bloodthirsty eyes.

She turned on her heels and began to run back through the guildhall, leaving only her teardrops trailing behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you're enjoying this so far, thanks for Kudos so far and enjoy!


	4. The First Master

Juvia had to hold onto her mouth to stop herself from sobbing out loud. She was on her knees, staring forwards into the darkness and shivering like a leaf. It took everything within her not to scream. Hearing steps outside of the storage cupboard she hid inside, she pushed her hand closer to her face, biting into her own skin to stop herself from crying out or making a single noise. She could taste blood against her teeth but she didn’t care, closing her eyes tightly and thankful that they couldn’t hear tears alone.

They were going through the whole guild, she realised in a panic. More tears flowed down her cheeks as she cursed herself, knowing that it had been a stupid mistake to run left when Gray was on the right side of the building. She couldn’t believe that even for a brief moment of panic and explosions she had forgotten her number one priority, stupidly opting to save her own life instead of running to her would-be-lover and taking him to safety. Not that she knew how she would have done that, but at least if she had been with him they could have tried to barricade the doors and buy themselves more time. It would have been no contest against the magic that had even destroyed the enchantments over the main entrance but even if the explosion had killed them both, they would have been together.

Fresh tears were leaking out of her eyes. She was terrified but not only for her own life. She could feel her Fairy Tail guildmark burning into her skin, telling her to stand on her shaking legs and to fight the enemy that dared step inside their halls. This place was supposed to be fun, it was supposed to be full of laughter and joy and friendship, but now she was cowering in a small storage unit and waiting for the next henchman to throw open the door and slaughter her. She shivered visibly. How was she supposed to move when crippled with fear like this? How was she supposed to stand against an entire guilds worth of cruelty?

Because Gray was on the other side of the building. The words rung so true to herself that she was momentarily able to drop her hand, able to see through her tears just for the smallest of moments. She had made the wrong decision before and gone left when she should have gone right. But that wasn’t an excuse for her to not go right now. Still shaking, she pulled herself to her feet, ignoring the bloody mark she left on the floor as she pushed herself up. She wasn’t going to die in some food cupboard, she hopefully wasn’t going to die at all but if she was then it would be by Gray’s side, defending him to the last moment. There was no way that Fairy Tail would walk in the morning and wonder why she had been anywhere but beside him.

Determination rested in her eyes now. It rested in her heart. More than just her lover’s life was at stake here, it was the entire reputation of the guild, and somewhere along the lines of her own life. For everyone, for everything she cared about, she put her hand on the handle and opened the door, staring straight into the eyes of Gray himself standing in front of her.

* * *

 

_Light and dark whispered around each other as if two creatures playing gently. The darkness was powerful and strange but the light excepted it gratefully and offered its own radiance and joy. None of it made sense but they bounced off each other without caring, toying and fluctuating over the winner._

_Both the light and dark bowed in grace as dainty bare feet touched gently against them. The two twisted and danced around her, the shadows moulding and turning under their ripples. They moved up the silken white dress, around thin and childlike hands and quickly touched the waterfall of bright and golden hair. Waves upon waves of it that made even the light shiver in envy rolling past the figures knees. And then the darkness touched the soft skin, the light knocked against the tip of her nose. The girl wrinkled her nose and gave a loving smile, looking back at the light and darkness kindly and taking them both into her hands._

_She stepped forwards, her smile dropping with each step she took. The world seemed to ripple at each footfall, escaping to an endless void. She stopped only when she was close, a troubled look now on her face and a serious glint in her eyes. The eyes were older than her young form, brightness and joy shining but a deep darkness flickering inside. “The guild is in danger” words echoed around the master, rippling through the shadows. “It’s time to wake up.”_

* * *

 

Juvia looked up in wide-eyed wonder, not knowing just how long she had been tongue-tied. She had studied this face in detail for so long it was impossible to mistake. There was not a single difference in him, not a single hair seemed out of place and every part of him was a beautiful harmony of hope and handsomeness. “Gray-sama!” she gasped, her knees now weak for an entirely different reason.

“Shh…” he reminded her, pointedly looking around himself before stepping forwards into the cupboard.

She blushed, an irrational joy growing inside herself. “Gray-sama wants to be alone in the storage closet with Juvia?” she said, her heart suddenly racing inside of her chest and forgetting every fear she had for their safety. “Juvia doesn’t know if she’s ready…” she mumbled, but deep down knew that yes, of course she was ready, she was ready and incredibly impatient.

She looked back to the door with the intents of giving them as much privacy as possible and even before Gray could reply to how ridiculous her request was her eyes fell on Mavis, the small girl looking at her intently and carefully as she stepped inside the cupboard with the two of them. “Please, close the door, Juvia,” Mavis warned her, making a point that she couldn’t possibly as she ran her spiritual hand through the shelves around them.

Juvia quickly obeyed but there was a sudden moment of disappointment as she realised that no, her and her beloved were not going to spend a few luxury moments alone. A girl could dream after all. She looked back at them both, her eyes wide as the haunting situation finally started to sink into her. There was much more clarity than there had been before, with the idea of her dying in her lover’s arms still a very real possibility but suddenly not such a terrible one since he was actually in front of her. Mavis being here would make everything all that little more awkward, however, and she did have really no intention of dying. Before any of that, however, she had her own burning questions. “You woke up…? Without Juvia…?” she said and the truth of that hit her hard. Gray had woken up _the moment she’d gone_. However thankful she was that he was awake, the moment of him opening his eyes and staring into hers had gone and that was crushing.

“Mavis woke me,” he told her quickly, though notably keeping his voice lower than she had in an attempt to remind her to do so as well. “The guild is in danger and we need to warn the others.”

Juvia looked at Mavis, trying to make sense of the strange look she had on her face. She didn’t know the First Master very well and exactly how well could you know a spirit? She had, however, never seen an expression like that on her face before and placed it down to worry. After all, someone had broken into the guild hall that she had lovingly created which was a huge sacrilege in itself, not to mention threatening the members that made Fairy Tail a true home for so many. Juvia found herself bowing to the First Master, having to admit that although she would have preferred to be there she was glad that Gray was saved. “Juvia thanks Mavis-san. But how do we get out of here? There are so many of them…” she asked looking to the both of them, unwilling to admit she’d done nothing but hide.

“Don’t worry about that,” Mavis reassured her, taking on a more innocent smile as she tilted her head. “I made this guild with lots of escape routes just in case anything like this happened.” Juvia looked amazed, wondering how the late master could have possibly realised that over a hundred years later the guild may be taken over by an enemy guild leaving their few members trapped inside. Mavis saw the expression on her face and let out a small laugh. “I’m a very good tactician,” she reminded her, “I like to think of every possibility before it happens.”

Gray’s hands sunk deep into his pockets, looking back at Mavis and accepting her explanation and moving on quickly to the important task ahead. “So where is the nearest escape route?” he asked her simply.

“In here, of course!” Mavis said proudly. The two of her looked at her as if she was mad, as this was quite simply one of the most non-descript and dull rooms of the entire guild. That had, of course, been the exact reason that she had chosen it, she went on to explain. While in a panic it would always make the most sense for frightened people to try and go to small rooms; they were easily defendable with only one entry point and no windows and also giving the enemy the false sense of security that they had the upper hand.

While she said that, however, the sounds of voices could be clearly heard outside of the door. Juvia and Gray tensed, hearing more than one male voice booming and seeming to come down the hallway with some purpose. Mavis looked to Juvia intently, quickly instructing her to check the far corner that was covered in potatoes. Nodding, Juvia rushed to its corner while Gray leaned against the side of the doorway, his hands poised together ready to flicker his ice magic to the first person who walked through their doorways. The area around him grew cold in anticipation.

Juvia heaved and pulled on the sack, trying her best not to make a noise but as she did she quickly knew that would be impossible. Right now it was better to be fast than quiet, she decided, feeling oddly safer if a battle came now that she had Gray by her side. She yanked and pulled, moving it as it scraped along the floor and potatoes heavily rolled down. The noise seemed to catch the attention of those outside, she realised in a blind panic, as they suddenly stopped in their steps and gave muffled instructions to one another. All she could make out was ‘has anyone checked in here?’ Her face went pale, but as she looked back to the floorboards that she had cleared she saw a small metal ringpull on the ground. Her eyes lit brightly with hope and she quickly yanked it open. “Gray-sama! Mavis! Juvia found the tunnel!”

Gray panicked, knowing that the sound of Juvia’s voice wouldn’t hold them for long now. He stepped back, hoping that he could dive into the hole in the ground and run as quickly as possible. They needed to make their escape quickly to find the rest of the guild to take out such a formidable force and Juvia couldn’t have found the trapdoor a second later. “I’ll hold them off,” the Fairy Tail master told them, stepping closer to the door. “They can’t hurt me but I can trick them into thinking I can hurt them.”

Gray grabbed onto the steps, pulling himself down into the tunnels beneath and moving quickly as per the first master’s instructions, but Juvia looked back wide-eyed. It felt wrong to leave Mavis after she had been so kind and helped them both escape. “Go, Juvia!” Gray called up to her, the smallest trace of worry in his voice. “She’s already dead! They can’t hurt her!” Juvia wobbled and finally agreed that although this woman meant so much to the guild, just this once it wouldn’t be the worst thing to leave her. She quickly stepped down, pulling the trapdoor along as she did.

“Wait, Juvia…” Gray told her just before she was about to move further down. “I…. I don’t have a lot of magic. Could you use your water on the trapdoor so I can seal it shut?” he asked her, looking up to her.

It obviously pained him to be able to make such a request, but her heart jumped inside of her chest all the same. She could feel her whole body shivering in anticipation as he lifted himself up closer to her, reaching his arm up to the trapdoor. In her excitement, she almost forgot what she was supposed to do, trying to say something though her tongue was suddenly too big for her mouth. Eventually she nodded and looked back at the trapdoor, carefully smoothing it in water as Gray touched it with his hands and froze it shut.

“I don’t know how much magic I can use…” he admitted, moving back down the ladders and beginning their long journey back to civilisation and away from their loved guild. Every step was obviously hurting but not in a physical way. This place that they were being pushed away from was their home, their jobs, their entire lives and a symbol of all of the friendships that they had to keep them going. Gray had lost his entire family at a very tender age, and then just as he had found another it had been ripped away. Fairy Tail, with all of its brawls and laughter and danger and being destroyed and reconstructed once more was somehow the most stable home that he’d ever truly experienced. Walking away from it now felt wrong, even if it was to come back with a reasonable force.

“Is Gray-Sama alright…?” Juvia asked slowly, the realness suddenly sinking in. For almost six days she had been watching him sleeping, watching the terrible smelling potions being dripped into his mouth and not even the tiniest bit of food entering him. Yet, somehow, as she stared at him she saw some strength in him. He walked as if nothing had happened, no matter how reluctantly it was. Only the magic was a concern, but they had all been warned that there could be some difficulties with that.

Gray didn’t look at her right away, thinking of the best way to answer her. Was he alright? That was a difficult question to answer, flashes of Mavis waking him and warning him the guild was in danger coming to the front of his mind. He didn’t feel like he should have been alright at all. “We need to get the guild back,” he said sternly. “I don’t think I can fight. But I want to help,” he explained.

She nodded gently, knowing that she too felt the same way though weakness was not unusual for her. Though she had huge strength, and certainly could hold her own in a fight if it ever came down to her, she felt weak at the knees and wasn’t sure how much she could have done by herself against the entire guild. No doubt she would have fared far better than she could have hoped, especially with saving Gray as a motivation, but the truth was no one alone could have defended the halls. “Juvia is glad that you’re awake…” Juvia said out of the blue, though they had been the words dancing on her tongue since she had first seen him. A blush graced her skin, going back to stealing glances instead of just being able to stare.

He didn’t respond to her, still fighting against the memories of being suddenly ripped from whatever torment was inside of him. “We should get moving.”


	5. An Alternative Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double Chapter Update! :)

Natsu stared up at the ceiling. It was quiet at that time of night, too quiet. That was when he could feel the darkness creeping back into his mind, the same darkness he had felt while he was unconscious. It was a similar kind of eternity there, the sort that meant that time just hung and refused to bend to your will. There were several times that he stared at the clock and it seemed to be going backwards instead of forwards.

At least Lucy’s apartment was warm, he thought to himself as he turned onto his side and pulling himself into a ball. He could hear Happy’s steady breathing beside him, knowing that the little blue cat was fast asleep. It made him smile gently, knowing that his best friend was by his side and that at least for the moment he was content. He was inclined to think that he must have been dreaming about fish too since he was purring the same way that he did when Mirajane was just about to pull out one of his favourite dishes. Amidst the purring he could, if he concentrated hard enough, hear Lucy in the other room. There was another voice in there too, though they were being carefully quiet and eventually the dragon slayer began to realise that she was talking to Loke. He had seen the celestial leader around the guild fairly often over the last few days, he thought carefully, trying to remember if Lucy had summoned him herself or if the spirit had chosen his own gateway into the world to give Lucy all the strength that she may have needed. It made sense that Loke was feeling particularly loyal to Fairy Tail as his old friends suffered, but it was always good to have a familiar face around in difficult times.

And Natsu had to admit there, in the eternal darkness, that right now things were difficult. In the guild it was easy. Around his friends it was easy. There were so many faces that looked at him with the biggest of smiles and he knew that wherever he walked he gave people hope. He would gladly carry that flag proudly, if his friends needed their spirits lifted he would be there for him as long as physically possible. He would wear himself to nothing, if that’s what it took. But in the darkness there was nothing to fight for, because there was nothing to fight against.

The only thing that remained was the unsteady breathing of the woman lying beside him. Erza hadn’t changed out of her armour, he had noticed, but he didn’t say anything. It wasn’t as if he had never seen her sleep in her armour before, despite the fact that she could requip at a moment’s notice back into whatever she wanted. Deep down, however, he knew what it meant, and knew that her breathing meant that she was still awake too.

Gently he pushed his hand out to her and clasped onto her upper arm. She visibly tensed, unable to see what was reaching out to her in the thick darkness, but in a moment, she began to relax. The tension was leaving her body in shaky breaths and she pulled up her hand to squeeze against where his was pressed to her arm. It gave her more strength than he could have ever known, even as he felt her own energy pushing back to him and helping him to relax too. A small smile crept on both of their faces. They had each other, whatever what that meant.

A knock on the door broke them out of the moment. They both jumped up quickly, staring through the darkness until Natsu lit his fist into a brilliant flame, casting the room into fiery light and bounding shadows. The bedroom door quickly slammed open, Lucy running out too quickly for her to have even been feigning sleep and Loke creeping up behind her. “What was that?” she asked quickly, an edge of tension on her voice.

“The door…” Erza said simply, staring at it. She looked back at the clock, realising that this was too late even for most drunks to come and knock against their door. “It must be important for this hour…”

Lucy nodded, glad now that she had three (four with Happy who was still sleeping merrily) by her side. The idea of opening her door to someone in the middle of the night filled her with dread, especially when most of the people who she would have expected to ever do that were already beside her. With a little more confidence that no one would try anything funny with a S-class wizard, a dragon slayer and a zodiac celestial spirit just inside, she went to the door and quickly opened it.

In front of her was Juvia, staring back at her with mixed emotions across her face. She seemed less than pleased that it had been Lucy that had opened, despite it being her apartment, but looking behind the celestial wizard she was more relieved to see that the advice had been sound and the rest of the team had taken the night in the small home. Behind Juvia, more importantly, was the ice wizard. Lucy’s mouth hung open a little, barely able to understand what she was seeing. It had been such a long and exhausting week and now, in the middle of the night, Gray was standing in her doorway. Her instincts told her to run and hug him but Juvia had so _very_ tactfully placed herself between Lucy and Gray.

“Gray! You’re awake!” Erza looked at him, her eyes wide in her own disbelief. Lucy hadn’t even realised that she hadn’t said anything, hanging on the staircase while her friends piled up behind them. There was a sense of urgency from both sides, the old team wanting to rush forwards and topple over their friend and the nervous energy that came from the water and ice pair as they stared up at them.

“The guild is in danger.” Gray’s words hung around them all, suddenly dropping the air from pure joy into an impending fear. He knew that they should have had this one moment of happiness, they _deserved_ to have the few moments where they could simply be happy that their friend had been returned unharmed. Unfortunately, fate had had other plans.

“What?!” the dragon slayer’s hands burned even brighter, even before he had heard anything more. Though there was still not the entire strength that he had had a few days before, the fire from inside of him was definitely strong enough to defend and attack where necessary.

“You should come inside,” Erza told them both sternly, staring at the two of them intently. She could see that there was more here than what was being said and though she may say it was for the sake of tactics she also didn’t want to run straight into a battle without a moments recovery from the emotional rollercoaster. “We need you to tell us everything that we’re up against,” she told them.

Everyone eventually agreed. Though Gray and Juvia clearly wanted to move as quickly as possible it was undeniable that they needed to formulate a plan before they ran straight into the guild. It pained them both to talk about the guild in that way, for them to explain to everyone about how the enemy had taken it so easily and the truth was if they didn’t move quickly then it would be impossible to attack. The guild had been created by a master tactician, and while she would never give them the details that she would to her loyal guild members, the building overall was designed to be able to defend itself from several attacks. Though it had obviously had quite a few modifications since then, the current master had always been keen that certain elements of these remained regardless and no matter how many times they had destroyed the guild the advantages, strongholds and secret tunnels remained.

“So we try to attack from the inside,” Erza said, putting her fist to her palm in a defiant stride towards making a real plan.

“They already know about the tunnels now,” Gray pointed out, remembering how they had been so close to their heels as they escaped. Even Mavis wouldn’t have been able to hide the true nature of their sudden disappearance. “If they’ve found one I’ve no doubt by now they’ve gone over the whole guild to see if they can find any more. The tunnels aren’t an option.”

“We don’t need tunnels,” Natsu claimed, rising to his feet with a devilish grin plastered across his face. Though he would never have admitted it, he was actually a little glad that adventure had come to their doorstep. Now he finally had someone to take out all of his pent-up energy against. “We go for Plan T!”

Juvia looked up at him blankly. “What’s Plan T…?”

“’Take them on head on’,” the rest of his friends chimed in almost perfect unison, obviously having known Natsu for far too long to expect anything less.

“Either way, the more guild members that we can get the better,” Gray said slowly, not saying that he didn’t exactly agree with Plan T but right now he wasn’t sure which way could work. That didn’t mean that he didn’t have his own options, however. “Juvia, can you go to Fairy Hills and try and alert as many of the wizards there that the guild needs a full attack?” he asked her.

Juvia looked at him, knowing that this was a special request and hearing her name called out by him made her heart go wild but it was unfortunately also a request that sent her further away from him when they had only just been reunited. “Juvia would much rather be with Gray-Sama…” she said slowly, looking awkward and hoping that he would find it adorable.

He sighed, knowing that he should have expected an answer like that. “Yes, Juvia, but right now the guild is more important,” he said. He knew that he could, if he wanted to, make her do exactly what he wanted with just the smallest of suggestions but to do so now felt incredibly cruel. Juvia, despite all her flaws and her obvious attraction, was deep down to him a good friend. He felt pity for her as well as knowing that there was a certain cruelty to her lingering in hope of something that was clearly never going to happen, but reluctantly he also suspected that if he didn’t give her attention then she would shut herself out. She was getting better every day for bonding with the rest of the guild and he suspected one day very soon she would barely need him at all, but right now he wasn’t even sure if she truly believed Fairy Tail was the even right place for her or if it was just because Gray was there.

Juvia’s lip wobbled. She stood slowly, remembering the strength that she had worked so hard to gather in the storage room. It hadn’t just been for Gray then; it had been for the strength of the entire guild. “Gray-sama is right. Juvia will go and gather the female wizards to take back our guild. Juvia will not let you down.”

He smiled warmly to her, proud that he hadn’t needed to manipulate her any more than that. “I’m sure you won’t,” he told her.

Although Juvia took her time in leaving, the discussion was quickly moving on. With the girls going to lend their aid as a formidable force, the idea of Plan T was growing quickly. They knew that they would be facing difficulties ahead and there was incredibly limited knowledge of the kinds of wizards that they would face and they had no idea how long it would take for the others to join. They debated getting more of the male members together but while they didn’t have anything quite as structured as Fairy Hills it was unanimously decided that it ultimately would take too long to gather them and they would have to assume that at least a couple of the girls would go out to try and build their forces.

The ‘plan’ was decided on. Loke watched over them as they spoke, not offering any words or guidance either way, but staring quietly as he did so. It was easy to even forget that he was in the room with him, but there was a certainly a strange look on his face as he listened. He didn’t say that he was necessarily opposed to the idea but when they asked he simply shrugged and said he didn’t know if it was a good tactic when they weren’t at full strength. He also claimed that he had no better plans himself, however, but raised one important point. “Mavis should be able to appear around the guild if she has done before,” he said, pushing back his glasses as they sparkled against the light. “She may at least be able to give us some information about who is inside, and we shouldn’t forget that she was an incredible tactician. It almost feels pointless to try and have a plan without her.”

Lucy pursed her lips and had to agree with her celestial spirit, hugging her knees. “That’s true, she certainly helped at the grand magical games…” she pointed out. In agreement, she pulled herself off her sofa, beginning to walk back to her bedroom to quickly change into something more suitable for fighting than thin pyjamas. “I just hope that we can find her…”

“Don’t worry,” Loke assured her, looking at her over his glasses with a strangely serious tone to his voice, as if he was making some kind of point that they couldn’t quite understand. “As a spirit myself, I can always find another spirit.”


	6. Plan T

Mavis laughed, holding her sides and letting her legs swing out in front of her. There was something oddly innocent about her laughter, despite her earlier seriousness and the pressing danger against their precious home. “ _Plan T_?” she repeated, giggling as she wiped her eye with the back of her hand, expecting to see tears dropping. She clasped her hands together quickly, a wide smile on her face as she continued to swing her legs. “I like it!”

Erza looked cautiously surprised at her, leaning in towards the tiny spirit girl and looking at her quizzically. “So you actually like our idea?” she said. She had truly hoped that seeing the tactician would help give them as much of an insight as possible but seeing her so far hadn’t filled her in the greatest of confidence. Mavis had reluctantly approached them, though when they was asked to help them with reclaiming the guild she had seemed to forget herself and jump up ready to listen to their request. Erza found herself wondering why they hadn’t gone to the illusionist more often though she was quickly learning that even while the situation was dire it was difficult to keep her attention. She had, in her many many years, seen so much and felt so little that it was incredibly difficult for her to bring herself to care. That, and a fear that her caring would lead to something far worse. The plan had surprised her however, and surprise left her with laughter.

Mavis thought about the ‘plan’ carefully, pulling herself up from the wall that she sat on and choosing to walk on it instead. “I think if we are careful it may be our best option,” she advised them. Through the air she stretched out a palm and the world started to shift. For a moment Gray was reminded of the shifting darkness and light as the illusionist twisted the shapes and colours against the palm of her hand, concentrating until she had made an incredibly realistic miniature vision of the famous guildhall. In her version, the doors were a pile of rubble and they could easily see the insides of the great hall, inside miniature figures appearing to walk around. She ignored their gawping and moved the image to an easily recognisable cross-section of what lay inside. “There are three floors to Fairy Tail. The great hall takes up most of the space and none of the floors go higher than this. This will be your first target, but it means that there will be more space for the enemy to gather their numbers. You need to get in and out of this room immediately and head towards this door,” she said, pointing to the doorway leading them to the left hand side. “If you can make your way through this hallway then you will find yourself at the stairs to the second floor. This journey will be the most difficult part of your battle, but whatever you do you must press forwards onto the second floor.

“On the second floor you will be able to reach the mezzanine. There is a 79% chance that by the time that you have reached the mezzanine, the female wizards will have joined the battle. Whatever you do, do not move on from this point until they have entered the guild. If you need to pull back this is also your last opportunity. On the third floor are the dark guild’s equivalent of the S-class and I haven’t been able to see their magic enough to know exactly how to combat them. I believe that if all of Fairy Tail attacks, he will bring them down to the second level, but they seem too confident in themselves to do so for only a small handful of wizards. Whatever you do you must stick together.”

“I didn’t even know there was a third floor…” Natsu admitted, though this new guild hadn’t been built for very long.

“It’s less of a floor and more of a room…” the First Master said slowly, showing the size difference between the guild hall, the mezzanine, and the tiny room at the very top of the building. “It’s really only designed to be a room to ring the bell from, but the dark guild has taken it upon themselves to create it into some kind of throne room for their master. He seems to be fond of his personal space…”

“That’s not his space though, it’s ours!” Natsu yelled, obviously getting irritated by all of the planning and talking when there were people inside their home doing who knew what to the place that they loved. “It’s our guild and we’ve got to get it back!” he shouted out determined, not caring that the other guild wasn’t actually too far from them. It was only luck that they didn’t have a dragon slayer of their own who could hear as clearly as Natsu.

“Can you tell us anything about who we’ll be facing before we go inside?” Erza urged Mavis quickly, realising that though she wanted to give the female wizards all the time she could, time was not going to be on their side. She could see in the corner of her eye there were already wizards contemplating what to do about the huge wooden doors and how they would protect themselves from Fairy Tail’s revenge in the morning.

Mavis nodded and dutifully obeyed, giving them all the images that she could of every mage that she had seen. Most of them had been low level wizards that they would easily steamroll through, but she had been clear to point out that there were a lot of them and it was clear that they were not at their full strength. From the normal mages she picked out a couple that may have been more worrisome, but that only seemed to make Natsu more eager to move. Then she moved onto the dark guild’s S-Class wizards, showing them a couple of the strange looking figures. One of them had been the man that had blown down the door, Mavis explained showing him as a tall man with his body hunched over into a crooked gaze. Then there were the other two, which she admitted she knew nothing about, though luckily the others had been quick to remember him.

“That’s Hazoula!” Erza pointed out as soon as she saw the round man’s image dancing in the air.

“That bastard…” Natsu gritted his teeth, his hands tightened into fists. He had no idea how the wizard had managed to escape from the magic counsel so quickly but he suspected if he was taking over the guild now then he would have never made it to the prison he had been handed over for. It almost felt like a betrayal, especially after those that they had been close to calling friends had been taken into the prison and accepted their punishment only for men like this to walk free. “He won’t get away with this,” he said, realising that this was now a revenge for a revenge. They had thwarted his plans with the Gates of the Afterlife and the Shinigami Cannon so the dark guild had forced themselves into Fairy Tail in retaliation. Now Fairy Tail was ready to charge back there was a certainty that this would have to be the last time they met these enemies unless they wanted to fall into a war.

Mavis saw the fire blazing in his eyes and realised that there was some deep hatred here, something that was undeniably fresh. The man clearly may have caused some difficulty if that was the case, but it also assured her that there was no way that Fairy Tail could lose this battle now. “I’ll do what I can to bring the sixth master back to the guild, so please do not try to take on the master until I have returned” she said, bowing to all of them as she prepared to leave. “Though I’m really not sure how to wake him without being able to touch anything….” she did admit under her breath.

They were all determined now. With Juvia retrieving the girls and Mavis bringing the master it seemed that luck was finally on their side. Fairy Tail’s strongest team was together once again and the hope inside of them burned stronger than any flame. Over the last few weeks there had been hardship, there had been pain and there had been untold suffering. This wasn’t the kind of guild that would weep for its own despair, however, this was the kind of guild that would only grow stronger and wilder with every obstacle that was hurled into their path. Natsu pushed his fist against his hand, a grin on his face as it burst into a brilliant flame. “I’m all fired up.”

That was all the confirmation that they needed. Without another word the four of them ran forwards, straight towards the smouldering remains of the guild doors. The doors that had once kept goodness and laughter inside and the evil and prying world on the outside, now was the other way around. The few mages that were staring at the doors trying to decide what to do with them looked up from the wreckage, only to see Natsu’s fist sending them flying through the air.

The first mage went hurtling through the centre of the guildhall, spinning and crashing into several of his companions as he did so. Natsu glared, his friends standing tall behind him drawing all their own magical weapons. “We’re taking Fairy Tail back,” he told them all, stepping over the boundary and straight into the heart of his guild, steaming flames glowing from his feet as he walked.

There was laughter in the air. It crackled throughout the hall and filled every member of the dark guild with an unnerving fear. None of Team Natsu could fully understand why the laughter of a fellow nakama would have filled the members of this guild with such an obvious edge of tension. He looked around, trying to find where the voice was coming as he prepared his roar specially to shut him up. The dark guild moved back cautiously, moving out of the way of the line of sight for the tall man sitting next to the bar. He was a strange shape, his shoulders clearly too large for the rest of his body, but there was an obvious strength that came from within him. Something about the way the entire guild moved without any more than a hollow laughter made the sense of unease spread over the five wizards. More than that was the face that looked back at them, and the warning from the First Master that this was absolutely the last person that they were supposed to meet.

The master of the dark guild grinned from under his huge black hat, pulling back the rim just enough to meet their eyes. “Your timing is impeccable,” he said, the laughter finally finished. “We were just discussing building a pyre for the fairies. Would you like to be the one to light it up, salamander?”

Natsu’s fists blasted into a brilliant light, far brighter and hotter than they had even been before. Caution to the wind he rushed forwards, jumping up on the long benches and tables to use as his track to reach against the master. No one threatened Fairy Tail in this way, no one dared to strike against their guild and more than that it was unforgivable to threaten the lives of the people he loved. This was his home, his only human family and the people that he cared about more than anything in the world. Real anger and the purest of emotions ran through his veins and what had once been a tiny flame inside of him was hungry and wild, crashing into the shield of people and punching and kicking wildly.

The shouts of his team echoed his as they all bounded forwards, Erza’s weapons shining brightly and making light work of the first enemies that dared throw themselves against them. In the midst of it all, there were weak guild members but there were also ghouls. She could hear the annoying “hoohoo” in the background but she had completely lost sight of the irritating wizard. She had a bone to pick with him, and while she fought with all her might there was that extra little push in the back of her mind to reach him and make him pay for the heartbreak over the last few days. He had threatened her two dear friends, the two she would even be tempted to call little brothers, and that in itself was as unforgivable as tearing down the guild hall doors.

Lucy stopped down her foot, thrusting her hand into the air and calling out “Open, Gate of the Bull!” The winds swept around her and the huge anthropomorphic bull appeared, his eyes wide and staring at her body. She looked proud at herself for just the shortest of moments before yelling at her celestial spirit to keep his dirty thoughts to himself and to take down the dark guild around them. Obediently the bull gripped his axe handle tightly, making a wild and stretching slice across as many people as possible.

Gray jumped out of the way at the last moment, very almost sliced in half by the huge spirit. “Hey, watch where you’re swinging that thing!” he shouted out, though Taurus refused to respond to him. Put out, Gray was ready to yell against the celestial spirit, but now was neither the time nor place. The truth was that he was weakened, knowing that he should have been ready to jump into the fight just like the rest of his companions. He narrowly dodged out of the way of a wild fist, stumbling backwards. Now there was little doubt that he had to recall his ice magic, had to regain some of the strength that Gray once had. It was a strange sensation running through him, as if the powerful magic didn’t come from inside of him but that it hung through the air like a static shield. He put his fist against his palm, calming his breathing and trying to remember all of the most basic of lessons in casting. He had to have the energy, have the will, have the technique, and have the imagination. He closed his eyes, concentrating everything into making one attack that could truly matter.

“Enough of this,” the words hung in the air, “Makarbe, finish this.” There was an exchange between the master and the crooked man as the crooked man stepped forwards, his hands out in front of him as he began to chant carefully. Runes appeared on the tips of his fingers, a swirling green light turning into crisp figures that danced. They hummed gently, vibrating against each of his fingertips before flying out and zooming in all directions. They danced through the air, spinning around their targets playfully until Makarbe clicked his fingers and they disappeared into a huge explosion.


	7. The Shield

Smoke covered the guild hall. The furniture had been smashed into a thousand pieces around them, most of their clothes tattered and ripped in the explosion that had affected both friend and foe. Many of the underlings of the dark guild were lying on the ground from the huge force of the explosion, effectively being knocked out by their own nakama. One by one the Fairy Tail members pulled themselves to their own feet, wobbling as they did so but knowing that this battle was far from over. Though many had been taken down by this magical explosion there were still many members left and Hazoula’s ghouls had seemed completely unaffected. “Hoohoohoo….” he chortled to himself. In the quiet aftermath of the explosion they could suddenly pinpoint where his awkward laughter was coming from, realising they had been mistaken to think that he had ever been with the throngs of people. From what little they had seen of this enemy so far it shouldn’t have come to a surprise that he had kept himself as far from physical fighting as possible, and in this case, he was looking down at them from the mezzanine; a large round silhouette was all that they could make out in the thick clouds of smoke and ash.

“Everyone…” Erza covered her mouth with the back of her hand as she coughed, soaking in the ash. “Everyone remember the plan!”

The plan was now in pieces. They had broken almost every rule that Mavis had given them within the first five steps into the guildhall. That didn’t mean that there hadn’t been some useful information from the First Master, however. She had clearly warned them that the guildhall itself was the most dangerous area to stay in which they had all experienced first-hand. She had reminded them that they needed to remain as a team and that their best chance was to stay on the second floor until the girls appeared. Seeing as one of their greatest enemies was above them and they were all sitting ducks until then, despite the fact that they were now being attacked from the bottom up it still rung true. They needed to make their way through the hallways as quickly as possible and Mavis would no doubt be correct that they would be the most difficult stretch.

Natsu dug his heels against the ground, standing tall and glaring up at the villain above him. That was his target. The master of the dark guild was a formidable enemy, the man who had taken down the Fairy Tail doors was a threat, but the round figure through the smoke was the one who had made his friends cry. That was unforgivable. “Happy!” he called out loudly and the small cat launched himself at him, positioning himself like a backpack and lifting Natsu with his small wings, understanding exactly what he had wanted and having the exact same urge himself.

“Natsu!!” Erza called out angrily, suddenly realising just what Natsu was doing. She could still barely see but she could hear Happy’s wings gliding through the debris. He was leaving out the hallway altogether and simply flying up to the second-floor ledge, she realised both impressed and angry with him as she saw the round figure stumbling backwards in horror, creating as many shadows around him as possible. It had been a difficult and exhausting battle against Hazoula with all the team and though she had no doubt that the dragon slayer was stronger, the guild would not wait patiently for him to take them out. She cursed him silently.

“We need to get to the second floor!” Gray spoke her thoughts aloud.

Through the smoke and debris they all ran, disappearing into the nearest doorways and making their way into what they knew would be a potential death trap. As predicted, several of the guild members followed the desperate attempts to reunite the ‘strongest team’. Erza and Gray ran side by side as close as they could, footsteps rushing against the familiar ground. Neither of them could say anything to each other, knowing that it would all be easier once they stepped onto the mezzanine. Once by Natsu’s side and they could finally start to piece together the plan that Mavis had so carefully created. It was difficult to concentrate on anything but the here and now when they were being pinned by so many enemies and going straight into the jaws of another, but they had to stay aware of all surroundings. Almost in complete unison they both saw the swirling green lights behind them, trying to outrun the second wave of magical explosions.

They both were thrown wildly as the first few began to trigger, smaller than the initial blast but enough to cause some serious damage to the wizards. Their running was stopped in its tracks as they could only struggle to pull themselves back to their feet, staring back at Makarbe. He had followed them here, a couple of his own companions grinning back as he gave his creepiest of crooked smiles. “You’re making me impatient…” he said, pulling across his hands and turning his fingers to create his next attack.

Erza coughed again as she pulled herself back up to her feet, using her giant sword to push herself back from the floor. It was too early in the battle to feel as weak as she did, she decided, pulling upon some inner resilience to help her through. This wasn’t a battle for money or honour anymore. It was a battle now for all of her friend’s lives. As Mavis had made very clear from her descriptions of the guild, it was nearly impossible for them to escape now, not unless by some miracle they all could get to the second floor and jump down towards the main doors. Realistically, that meant the only way they could ever hope to leave was to win. “What do you want with Fairy Tail?!” she demanded, anger burning inside of her. “You cowards, attacking our guild at night when no one is here! What did you hope to expect??”

The crooked smile spread further across his face. “You’ve been nothing but a pain in _Crow Wing_ ’s side…” he said, recounting the difficulty that they had had in order to get the Gate of the Afterlife, the Shinigami canon and their final stage to reunite the two. “Father is displeased with you.”

“The dark guild’s master is this guy’s dad…” Gray muttered under his breath in understanding.

Erza gritted her teeth, realising that the similarities between the strong mage and the master had not only been in their strength and twisted physique. That wasn’t the real matter at hand now, however. “So what does taking over our guild achieve?!” she asked him, trying to do all she could to buy more time. The girls were somewhere, gathering their forces, and at any moment they would be rushing through the doors and beginning the next stage in reclaiming Fairy Tail. Then there was the master, who she could only hope would be there quickly to fight against the dark guild’s master and any more strength that the others couldn’t face. “You know you don’t stand a chance against Fairy Tail!”

The man didn’t seem to realise that she was buying this extra time, believing that she was only trying to gain as many minutes as possible of her own life. “You think that we would take over this place without knowing that we were taking on the strongest guild in Fiore?” the man smirked, tilting his head to the side patronisingly and deciding that he would play with this young woman’s emotions before finally destroying her. “We intend to burn you from the inside out, starting with your reputation. Just being able to stand in these halls and come as far as we have, being able to spread Fairy blood across your beloved emblem, is the start of your downfall. We won’t even need to do the rest, I’m sure there are many dark guilds that would love to take advantage of your weakness. A few light ones too, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Erza and Gray tensed, glaring back at the man. His sickening words only made it even more clear that they had to emerge from this victoriously. It needed to be more than just a simple victory, it needed to be an overwhelming display of strength, at the exact moment that Fairy Tail’s Strongest Team was undoubtedly at one of its weakest. They needed to fight with their all, to give even more than they even knew that they had. Both Erza and Gray were in unanimous agreement. “Your blood will be the only spilt tonight!” Erza yelled loudly, her words bouncing around the narrow hallway as she pulled upon dark black armour. She didn’t have the room in such a narrow space for any of her more glamourous armours, such as the Titania which she really wanted to take full advantage of now, but she also knew that she had to defend herself against the explosive magic.

The man seemed amused by her sudden readiness, pulling on the tiny green balls of magical energy and sending them sweeping through the air. “What could you possibly hope to achieve? Separated from your friends, do you really think you’re a match for me?” He clicked his fingers and once again the spiralling green lights blasted into an explosion.

Erza threw herself forwards, requipping her shield at the last moment and placing herself between Makarbe and Gray. Her shield wasn’t the strongest, she would never have been able to wield anything heavy duty that in this narrow space and it had to be fast in order to save her friend. She could feel Gray’s eyes staring at the back of her head and she had a small smile on her face. In that moment, all the guilt and anguish from the last few days seeped away. Her arms hurt from holding the shield against the vibrations, her legs exhausted as she pushed them down to keep her footing, but a smile was on face. She knew she would put herself in front of him just as easily as he would throw himself into being her shield. Even without a shield in her hands she would have done nothing less.

He too had a small smile on his face, nodding and understanding what she didn’t need to say. “I guess we’re even,” he said respectfully, pulling himself back and knowing exactly what was going to come next.

It was clear now to Erza that while the hallway caused huge difficulties for her and her usually large weapons, it was even worse for the explosive mage. He wasn’t even able to conjure a blast large enough to tear down the walls around them, though she was certain that there would be more tricks up his sleeve. This would take a very close quarter battle, which she suspected was the true reason for the two companions standing by his side. “I wasn’t ever counting,” she replied to Gray with a smirk on her face, keeping her eyes carefully on the enemy. There had been too many times that they had saved each other’s lives, either directly or by some strange sequence of events. What was important was the fact that they kept doing so, without ever a hesitation. “Go ahead and meet up with Natsu, I’ve got this,” she told him, narrowing her eyes against her enemy and getting ready to pounce, the new smaller weapons slipping comfortably into her hands.

And he didn’t doubt that she did, no hesitation as he continued to run up to the second floor, absently wondering where Lucy had gotten to.


	8. Celestial Guidance

The celestial wizard’s ears were ringing from the explosion. She looked around herself as the smoke fell all around, unable for some time to see anything or anyone that wasn’t directly in front of her. She grasped for air, coughing out the fragments in her chest and pushing against the pain and exhaustion. A quick assessment told her that she didn’t seem to have much more than tiny cuts and bruises, which had been luckier than a lot of the enemy guild, she realised suddenly as the air began to shift and more of the fallen men around her could be seen.

Suddenly there was a figure, somehow rising from the clouds and she recognised the shapes of Happy’s wings lifting Natsu up to the mezzanine. She was reminded of Mavis’s words to get to the second floor, hearing them repeated again by Gray as she circled around herself looking for the exit. The second floor was the best place according to the tactician and they had already seen how dangerous the great hall had been with so many enemies. Seeing the doorway just ahead, she ran forwards under the cover of smoke.

Only once inside did she realise that she had taken the door to the right, not the left as initially instructed.

Lucy looked out of the doorway with heavy breathing, staring through the crowded guild hall as she saw several members of the dark guild rushing into the left side. It was clear that to go back through to try and correct her mistake would be suicide, but luckily for her the right side also had a staircase that lead up to the mezzanine. Just as she was starting to breathe a sigh of relief, she could see figures pointing to the right hand side doors, directly where Lucy was standing and shaking.

She stepped backwards, trying to gather her strength together. Someone was coming straight to this hallway and Mavis had warned them that it was a deathtrap to stay here. The hallways were narrow and filled with doors that could contain countless enemies ready to spring on her. She stepped back again, still half-tempted to make a dive back into the main hall and try and go for the left so that she could at least fight with her friends. With another step back and finally turning around, she began to run. Gray and Erza may have been on the other side, but Happy and Natsu were above and they needed her help. If no one was coming from this side, there would be no one to warn them of the impending danger and to block the passageway from more of the dark guild’s attacks.

She screamed as her feet suddenly gave way from underneath her. She hadn’t even heard the man appearing in the doorway, but looking back she could clearly see why. The creature loomed, something more animal than man in the way that he stared back at his pray. He was as far from her as possible, barely moving an inch, holding a small bloody knife in his hands. He hung onto the doorway, his feet positioned on the walls instead of the floor, staring at her intently. She recognised him as Huntsman, one of the equivalent of S-Class, though that had been all the information Mavis had been able to give her. Her eyes went wide, thinking of Erza’s S-Class strength and how she would have had no chance against someone like that. Huntsman was what Crow Wing considered their own elite class while Lucy barely considered herself strong enough to deserve the companions she had. A tug on her legs brought her eyes downwards, remembering how quickly she had fallen down. Wrapped across her legs was a thin white string which her eyes followed all the way up to the enemy’s fingers. With another tug, she could feel herself sliding across the floor towards him.

She blinked and suddenly there was only darkness. Desperately she tried to grab onto the ground but couldn’t even feel the familiar wooden floorboards beneath her fingernails, nothing in the eternal darkness to help her from being dragged. She tried to kick her feet out, tried to grasp her ankles and fight against whatever was in front of her but her hands failed to find anything to hold onto. All she could see were her normal boots, being dragged just as if they were in the sticky web.

Panic began to set in, remembering that the wizard had waiting for her with the knife when he started his attack. Whatever was happening to her now, she was now helpless and insecure and this was the perfect time to have friends beside her. She tried again to grab the floor, yelling at the top of her voice the names of each of her friends but she couldn’t even hear her own voice. She had never heard of any magic like this before and tried to work out exactly what was happening to her. She didn’t feel like she was in Fairy Tail anymore, as all the familiar smells, sounds and sensations had drained away the moment it had turned to darkness. It hadn’t felt like she’d moved either, however, which gave her hope that if she could hold out for long enough then one of her many friends would find her.

And then she had a revelation. She had friends right there with her. She quickly moved to her side, her hand falling on the pouch and a sense of warmth rushing all over her as she could feel the golden and silver keys still within her grasp. Her touch was dulled however, the darkness making it near impossible for her to pick which key she needed. She could work only from memory and a very vague shape. Perhaps Hologium would be able to shield her from whatever this place was, or Loke would be able to cast his light and help them through the darkness. Virgo could bury them away… her only hope was that she didn’t get Aquarius, as she wasn’t even sure what would happen if she tried to summon her without water. She pulled out the first key that she could and pushed it through the air, shouting for it to open though the darkness stole her words.

There was a sudden brilliant light and she quickly shielded her eyes with her arms. Below her feet she could suddenly feel the wooden floorboards of Fairy Tail once more, a sensation which shocked her into quickly looking around. All of senses were finally starting to awaken and she became aware of the sticky white webs clinging to her body. There were broken streams of it dashed all over the floor and in front of her Cancer stood, his sturdy scissors in hand and looking back at the wizard. “Long time no see, shrimp,” he said to his owner.

“Cancer! Thank you!” Lucy gasped, amazed that he had somehow managed to help her. Of course, now with that knowledge, she had made the link between the darkness and the web. It was when that they had begun to pull that the world had gone into darkness. From all of the broken pieces of web around her she quickly realised that it had been more than just her legs tied at the last moment and the S-Class wizard was looking at her with an angry flash in his eyes.

“Ssstay still, Fairy!” Huntsman hissed, rapping his fingers against the hilt of his bloody knife. Lucy moved her head out of the way as the knife came hurtling towards her, a terrified squeal leaving her lips as she quickly realised that breaking out of the spell did not mean that he had defeated this creature.

There was one advantage that the celestial wizard had and now that the wizard was close enough she could see that they wielded a similar style of fighting. While neither of them were particular strong with their fists or bodies, they relied on the magical powers to take out the opponent right up to the point of success. For Huntsman it was in his psychedelic webbing, but Lucy had a plethora of weapons which she could use and Cancer was always a trump card against his particular strain of magic. She pushed her enemy back with a strong thrust, letting the new confidence wash over her. Huntsman was only successful at spreading fear and darkness, stopping his enemies and taking advantage of them while lost in a haze of despair. Lucy had no intention of falling into those negative emotions, and actually let herself think for the briefest of moments that she could achieve the impossible, and that that all of Fairy Tail would come out of this in one piece.

She pulled Taurus out next as she sent Cancer back for now, ignoring the bull’s perverted looks and yelling at him to slice through the enemy. Taurus gave a smile as he held onto his heavy huge axe, swinging it obediently straight in the enemy’s direction. The wizard tried to throw out his webbing again but although it hit against the giant bull, his axe was already in full swing, crashing him through the wall.

Lucy winced, not wanting to think of the repair costs to Fairy Tail after all of these attacks. At least if they managed to win the day here they would have a guild hall to go back to, she thought, wondering if now she may have the opportunity to ask the wizard about their motives. She wasn’t sure what kind of state he would be in after taking Taurus’ axe, she thought with a small sense of dread, knowing he could be anything between a bloody blur on the wall and ready for the next attack.

Hesitantly she looked through the hole in the wall, stepping inside. She let Taurus go back, seeing that he was struggling with the after effects of the webbing and hoping that Cancer would be able to help him in the celestial world. She would call them back if she found the S-Class wizard ready for another round but she had to admit after several different calls to the zodiac signs she was starting to run out of energy, and was also reminded that it was only just starting to become the early moments of daybreak. Although she wanted information from the strange wizard she prayed that he was unconscious, wishing that this day could end.

As she stepped further into the room she realised much to her relief that not only was the webbing wizard very much unconscious, he was thankfully also alive. A smile sigh escaped her lips, knowing that her work here was one step closer to being complete. She was exhausted and still had to go to Natsu and help them take down Hazoula and the master and ultimately reclaim the guild. Her senses still felt dulled but there was no time here to recuperate them when there was so much left to do. Sensations were returning quickly to her as she turned back to the doorway, trying to focus on what was around her as she stepped. She was about to blindly walk back out of the room when she became aware of the sound of… dripping. She turned to the sound.

What…?

Her eyes went suddenly wide, mouth opening. The horror was all so suddenly taking over her, all of her senses suddenly coming alive to the most horrendous of truths. The smell, the sound of dripping, the taste of ash in her mouth, the feeling of every hair standing on end, her eyes watering... now that these senses were working together it was to create something that was unbearable.

That can’t be…

Thoughts failed her, even instincts were intangible. She jumped forwards two steps, ready to dive into the mess and fix everything. Then she just as suddenly stopped and put her hand on her mouth, frozen to the spot. She was shivering, her throat felt like it was going to ache from all the shaking breaths that were coming through her chest. Tears were in her eyes even before her brain could process what she was seeing or why she was crying.

It can’t be…

She closed her eyes tightly but it did nothing to help. She told herself that this was another illusion, ready to call on Cancer once more to cut the webs and bring her back to reality. This had to be a nightmare. She took another shaking step back, her eyes still closed tightly as she shook her head so hard her ponytail fell loose in her hair. Closing her eyes did nothing to drown out the sound of dripping. She stumbled back again, opening her eyes and barely able to see anything but a blur.

It just can’t…

In walking backwards Lucy hit against something, jumping with a start before feeling the soft and comforting hands of her spiritual friend on her arms. Loke’s touch was gentle and careful, both wanting to hold her and give her freedom, but Lucy shivered out of his grasp before it had even begun, spinning around to face him. She hadn’t summoned him, she was certain she wouldn’t have had the strength even if she had thought of it, and the look in his eyes told her that he had been the one to decide to come to her in this moment. “I don’t…” she stuttered, unable to complete a sentence when even her mind couldn’t finish anything.

“I know…” Loke said smoothly, watching her sincerely. “I’ve known for some time.”

How…?

She sidestepped away from both heartbreaks, unable to even look at Loke without a coldness spreading over her body. “You knew…?” she tried to process exactly how he could have known… and how he could have known for some time. She tried to focus on anything but the dripping. His words were impossible to pull into anything that she could use or help her through the difficult journey she was now about to face. Quite simply, she couldn’t face anything right now.

But that means…

Loke was trying to pull her back into her arms but she shook her head again, her hands slipping out of his as she took several steps back away from her friend. “No… No….” she whispered under her breath. Some things were starting to seep into her, a pain she knew she couldn’t take. With the new emotions also brought her a new direction. “Natsu…” she whispered under her breath, taking another step back.

“Lucy…” Loke said gently, trying to not impose himself on her but still wanting to be firm while there was so much that she needed to see. There was still so much danger. “Lucy it isn’t what you think…”

I need to find Natsu.

She shook her head again, the tears dripping from her cheeks and running down her chest. “I need to find Natsu.” It was the only thing that made sense now. Her breath was heavy in her chest, her knees were weak and she didn’t know how long she could stay standing without screaming or throwing up or falling to the ground. Before that happened she needed to find her friend, she needed to warn him that the danger was not what any of Fairy Tail could have suspected. Tears clouded her eyes and her judgement as she turned away from it all, running as quickly as her legs could take her and forcing herself out of Loke’s desperate last grip, racing all the way up to the second floor.


	9. Natsu vs Hazoula

Natsu and Happy flew up to the mezzanine, watching with a grin on the dragon slayer’s face as the enemy wizard took several steps back. It was clear from the look of horror of Hazoula’s face that he remembered the pain that Natsu’s fist had already caused him, and knew that the actions that they had taken since then would only make him more vicious. And in this moment Natsu did feel vicious. With the guild at stake it should have been the master that he was chasing after and trying to beat, but the master had not hurt him the way that the man standing in front of him had. The master hadn’t been anything more than a long line of bad guys come to destroy everything they had cherished and he would eventually fail just like every other that had come before him. Hazoula, however, was one of those men who had come dangerously close without even really intending to.

Natsu’s feet hit the ground and he pulled his fists close to his chest, ready to fly forwards. A dangerous fire burned in his eyes as he looked at Hazoula. This was the fire that he had very almost burned out in that terrible moment. Now it danced in anticipation, fighting against the lingering cold and getting ready to blaze into action.

The round man quivered in fear, continuing to step backwards and pulling as many ghouls and beasts from the abyss as he could conjure at once. Natsu didn’t charge forwards, stepping calmly with determination. His fight with not with the ghouls but with the man in front of him and he was only swatting back those that broke his gaze upon the enemy. Hazoula saw his bloodthirsty eyes and panicked, drawing more and more of them around the dragon slayer as a protective force field. Eventually Natsu could not hold back. All he wanted was to be able to step straight to the man who had attacked them but he was making it exceptionally difficult, and in a moment he knew he wouldn’t go down in a fight. The ghouls all at once moved from defence to attack, each one of them with huge distorted open mouths gaping at him and attempting to claw. Natsu let out an angry cry as he could feel them swarming over him, kicking his flaming feet off the ground and jumping through their net. Happy leapt up and grabbed him, flying swiftly through the air at his command and looking down on the enemy.

Looking below him he could see that Hazoula was pouring everything into his saving his own skin and that now meant it attacking in desperation. Though none of the ghouls were capable of flight as Happy was, they were all beginning to climb on top of each other like a disorderly pyramid, each one of them unable to communicate with each other but all desperate in their instructions to take down the dragon slayer.

“There’s so many of them!” Happy said, looking down from over Natsu’s shoulder. The ghouls were almost at their feet and the guild hall only went so high. It seemed that Hazoula could conjure more of them that Natsu ever thought possible, amazing him with his sheer will and numbers. “I hope you have a plan, Natsu…” Happy whimpered a little, pulling his wings as high as they could go without brushing against the wooden poles above him.

Natsu grinned. “Of course I have a plan,” he said. “Plan T, remember?”

“Aye!” Happy agreed, and though a little anxious to move forwards he could feel Natsu’s body tensing and knew the signals from his friend perfectly. He straightened his wings and began to freefall, letting the ghouls grasp and cut against his tender wings, before spinning them both quickly into a cyclone of speed, bursting through the beasts and finally beginning to hit them without holding back.

In fighting against the ghouls Natsu was beginning to realise three things: The first was that Hazoula’s magic had its limitations, but in these instances it made very little difference. The more beasts that Hazoula created, the slower that they were and the easier it was to punch through their distorted bodies. He remembered their last encounter very differently, as a normal roar would be aimed at ten and would more than likely only hit two. Now his flaming fists were landing left, right and centre and hitting each target with ease.

The second thing he realised was that no matter how much he fought these creatures he ended up no closer to Hazoula. With no bodies being left it was impossible to tell just how many he had defeated so far, but he suspected that defeating one only opened up a ‘slot’ for Hazoula to create a replacement. Ultimately it was all a contest of who’s magical strength could last the longest.

And that lead to the third fact that, as he had been warned several times, he was not at his full strength. He could feel his muscles aching as he tried to push forwards, feeling the darkness that had been so eager to take him in his sleep rising to the back of his mind. The coldness was whispering to him here, telling him that there was nothing left to fight for and it was time to give up. Now he had seen his own limitations he knew exactly what was left inside him and it felt like his magical container was an hourglass draining with every push. This was not a familiar sensation: He had been weaker than this many battles before and pulled on more and more strength he had ever suspected he had, but this time felt different. Now he had seen exactly where the end of the bottomless container lay and how cold it could be without his flame. Right now, he knew that neither his body nor his mind could survive another drain to nothing.

He stumbled back for a moment, feeling blood dribbling down the side of his mouth. The enemy was relentless and he had no way of even seeing how exhausted Hazoula could possibly be. The more he fought in this familiar scene the more he feel his flame trembling. He told himself that it hadn’t been the beasts or this strange magic that had taken him down last time but that damned Shinigami canon. There was no reason to be afraid here. There was no reason for him to feel emptiness, as if he was staring at his own hourglass running out with every flame that he conjured. Natsu had stared death in the face many times but something about the battle of the Gate of the Afterlife had stuck with him and reminded him of his own mortality. That was why he absolutely had to beat Hazoula.

It dawned on him slowly as he caught his breath that the last battle had _not_ felt anything like this. They had fought the same ghouls but their movements had been completely different, his friends had been by his side and they were against the clock. Now they were stalling for time, waiting for the girls to arrive and the current and late master to aid their battle. But there was an odd sensation that felt like he was walking straight into his memory, which he could not place until he shivered. He looked up suddenly, as if he could see the magical energy glowing around of him. It was cold but this was no natural temperature shift. It was the heart-warming sensation of his friend’s magic, so real that he felt that if he had reached his hand up he would have been able to feel pure ice within the air. It both gave him strength and confusion. He had never felt it in this way before he’d been forced to fight against it almost a week before, so couldn’t understand why the energy was now scattered through the air.

“You can do better than that,” Gray was watching him, surprisingly calm as he entered the battlefield. It was clear that neither Hazoula nor his crazed beasts had noticed him, even as he spoke. His eyes were pinned on Natsu, however, a look of cold determination mirroring back to him.

Natsu, though still clearly confused, nodded. He could do better than that, he knew this. While he feared for his magical energy he knew that with his friend by his side he would always be able to conjure more magic, more power, more strength and more determination. What he thought was fear had held him back, the coldness in the air he realised had been there since he’d been knocked unconscious, Gray’s coldness. He had thought at the time that it was dampening his flames, that it was always a contest between the heat and cold. Looking up he smiled however, finally understanding that magical energy was power in all forms. This buzz rushing through the air was not a whispering voice of despair nor was it an affliction tearing away his own power. It was simply the remains of a powerful spell that could only serve as a reminder of the true strength of friendship. Even as scattered as it was, it still rippled through the air with some force. “Can you use it?” he asked Gray, knowing that somehow the ice maker would feel the magical aura and know exactly what he was referring to.

Gray looked away, unsure. “I don’t know,” he admitted, remembering the trapdoor in the escape with Juvia and how much energy it had taken to just freeze the small door shut. The magical energy gathering around the mezzanine was now much stronger than in the underground tunnels. Gray could feel no magic within his body, he hadn’t since Mavis had woken him. The magic in the air had either been gathered here by a connection to the original wizard it belonged to, by Porlyusica attempting to rekindle his magic, or some combination of both. Either way, while it hadn’t actually reached the ice mage it was powerful enough to be tangible here. “I’m looking forward to trying,” he admitted, putting his hands together as he smirked and placed himself into a fighting pose.

Natsu grinned back at the enemies in front of him. “Let’s see who can take the most of these bastards down,” he promised, still knowing that he needed to find some final way of defending himself as stronger than Gray. For now, he would ignore the disadvantage that Gray was now working with unwieldy magic that wasn’t even a part of his own body; he would still find some way to make this into a real competition.

Hazoula panicked as before his eyes his ghouls began to crumble to the ground with twice the power. Ice shards appeared in their stomachs, fiery blasts crumbled them to ash, and inch by inch Fairy Tail was getting closer to him. Sweat drippled down his forehead and into his big bushy black moustache and it dawned on him there was no way that he could survive this. At first he began to edge backwards, but this turned into a full-scale dash to the stairways.

His round body bounced backwards, rolling and bounding back to the dragon slayer’s feet. He looked up with terrified eyes, lying in icy puddles and piles of ash and staring up at a pink-haired demon who had one of the most terrifying gazes he had ever seen. His eyes darted back to the exit he had tried to take, seeing the scarlet-haired requip wizard standing at the very top of the stairs and realising that it was her that had flung him back so quickly. He looked back at the dragon slayer, realising that his life now lay in his hands. “Hoo…. Hoo….? P-p-p-please show some mercy…” he begged, pulling himself onto his thin knees.

Natsu’s eyes shone with his dangerous flame, thinking of all of the things that he could possibly do to the wizard that had caused him so much trouble. The despicable man had already gotten free from the magical counsel once before; he wasn’t sure that he could trust them again. Natsu wasn’t so certain that this man deserved mercy, but before he could even contemplate any of that he heard his voice called.

“Natsu!!!” Something in Lucy’s voice was shattered and broken. The celestial wizard ran up the stairs opposite Erza, tears streaming down her face and barely able to even keep herself on her feet. Each leg seemed weaker than the last as it hit the wooden floorboards. “Natsu get away from him!!!” she screamed at him, finally falling to her knees. Loke was coming behind her too, stopping just some distance behind her and obviously torn as she had already pulled herself from his grasp so many times. It was impossible for him to not want to hold her, to protect her even as she was so defiantly trying to protect Natsu. Her cheeks were flushed, tears streaking her skin so heavily she didn’t even attempt to wipe her face, but it was her eyes which caught their attention, flooded with fear and pain.

In that moment, there was a cheer and a yell from below as the rest of Fairy Tail finally joined the fight.


	10. Him

Lucy’s bottom lip trembled as she looked back up at Natsu, clawing at the ground for something real to hold onto. The sounds of fighting echoed over the guildhall, travelling up to the quiet mezzanine and washing over them all. Though they could hear the voices and familiar magical chants of their friends there was too much commotion to tell who exactly was there or even who was winning.  It was violent, passionate and filled with all the adventure that the Strongest Team would usually jump straight into. Not this time, however: Their battle was still right in front of them.

Natsu tilted his head, looking at Lucy confused. It pained him dearly to see his friend obviously in distress, not knowing why she could possibly be so concerned. “Lucy, it’s OK,” he tried to assure her, taking the smallest step towards her but still not following her advice in stepping away from their enemy. “We’ve beaten him. He can’t hurt us anymore,” he assured her, knowing that while he may have detested the round man he had really believed that his defeat was genuine. He was the despicable kind of man that valued his own life more than anything and his life had obviously been in Natsu’s hands. His begs for mercy had clearly come from true desperation.

Lucy shivered, her face seeming to drain even more of colour by the second. She raised a shaking hand and pointed forwards. “Not him… _him_ ,” she trembled, her gesture missing the enemy wizard and pointing past Natsu towards the ice mage.

Confused, Natsu followed the celestial wizard’s pointing straight to looking back at his friend. “Gray? Why Gray?” he asked innocently, looking at the accused briefly. He could see nothing out of the ordinary about his friend. Even the way that Gray tensed and took a step back at the sudden accusation seemed very much in order. He glanced back at Lucy, not feeling the danger she held in her voice.

Lucy panicked even more as he had so casually turned his back on Gray. Even if Erza was behind him and stepping forwards, even if they had one of the strongest team’s Fiore had ever seen, she had been too shaken to trust their own power. Natsu was naïve, she realised, but he had all reason to be naïve. He had not yet seen what she had and she prayed that he never would. “Natsu get away from him, that’s not Gray!” she shouted, realising that her words may cause the traitor to suddenly rise up against them. She couldn’t hold back however, knowing that Natsu would never defend himself against someone he considered his nakama.

Natsu finally turned back to the ice mage and though Gray had made no attempt to hurt them or even approach them, he realised that he had to trust Lucy. Though he didn’t understand her pain or her fears, he knew that there was true concern in her voice and she was trying everything in her power for him to listen. He could listen, but that didn’t mean he could so easily understand. “What do you mean he’s not Gray?” he asked, staring intently at Gray and waiting for him to say something in retaliation. It looked like Gray, sounded like him, and he could feel Gray’s magical energy still static in the air which helped convince him that his friend was close.

The ice mage didn’t answer. His mouth thinned and he didn’t meet their eyes.

Below them the sounds of clashing and jeering continued, screaming and cheering as the two guilds continued their fight for power and territory. On the mezzanine somehow the silence was managing to overpower the ruckus below, soaking in any distraction. They stared at Gray, demanding with their expressions for him to defend himself. They had all wanted so much for him to be Gray and even Lucy watched him with a silent prayer that she had been mistaken. The man in front of them was not attacking and it was infuriating how even his silence seemed to resemble the identity he refused to claim.

Natsu tightened his fists, gritting his teeth. “So who the hell are you?” he demanded suddenly, realising that they would get no answers from him. Whether or not this was his friend meant that so much more hung in the balance. “Answer me, bastard, who are you and what have you done with Gray?!” he demanded, going into his fighting pose as he shot the words at him.

Gray still refused to speak. Even as Erza tried to step into his line of sight he turned away slightly, refusing to look at his team as he thought carefully. It wasn’t an easy task, he knew, and he was dreading the truth just as much as his companions. Natsu had no patience for his contemplative mood, however, yelling at the top of his voice “Answer me!” as he flung himself forwards, his fist directed straight towards Gray’s face where it had landed thousands of times over. At the very last moment, Gray’s eyes flicked up to meet his. His dark gaze met his and in a fraction of a second Natsu could see the undeniable truth that it was his friend’s eyes looking back at him, his friend’s expression and his friend’s pain. Natsu did not stop the attack. Gray’s face, however, did not stop Natsu’s fist from flying through the air. Instead his hand sunk straight through and sent the dragon slayer tumbling out of the other side of Gray’s body.

The girls gasped, staring as Natsu fell to his hands and knees behind the dark-haired man. The image of Gray thinned for a moment at the physical contact but quickly swirled back into place to leave him looking as solid as ever. “He’s not real…?” Erza breathed, trying to make sense of exactly what she was seeing. Her sword hilt fell into her hand but her armour rattled around of her, already preparing herself to fight a non-corporeal version of her friend.

Gray looked down, the friends around him all gathered and looking at him in horror. This had been the exact moment that he had been dreading since he had first seen the light and darkness swirling together in front of the young blond woman. “I told you Mavis had woken me. To protect the guild,” he explained to them, as if that could somehow slot everything into place. Protecting the guild had always been what was important here. He had taken the ghost’s words to heart, knowing that every moment would have to lead towards saving Fairy Tail and the guild’s reputation while everything else would have to come later. He had hoped there would be a moment of quiet once the day had been won, but the battle below was still raging on and fate was not so perfectly timed.

Erza tried to stand up straight and assess the situation as clearly as possible.  She didn’t want to jump to conclusions but it felt that she didn’t even know what she could be jumping to. “I don’t understand…” she said. She was tempted to pull her sword on the figure in front of her, but the familiar darkness in his eyes stopped her from the threats. This wasn’t Gray, that point had hit home now, but while whoever it was wore his face she could not raise her blade. No, not who, but _what_. The way that Natsu had gone straight through the image of their friend was the same way that Mavis’s body floated through obstacles. It also reminded her of the miniature version of the guild Mavis had so casually held in her hands. “Mavis created you,” she reasoned, eventually understanding what Gray was hinting at.

Gray gave a short sharp nod and actuall, a small smile. “You are all really confusing that guy, by the way,” he pointed out to them as he glanced in Hazoula’s direction, who was looking at them all as if they had sprouted several heads. He jumped a mile when he suddenly saw every one of them stare at him in unison for no apparently reason. “Just like Mavis, only people with the Fairy Tail mark can see me,” he explained, finally starting to loosen into explaining and looking at each of them in turn.

“But if you’re not Gray, where is he?” Happy asked in a tiny voice, his tail sinking onto the ground as his little blue ears went flat.

Lucy tensed, realising now that this wasn’t the threat she had expected. It was just pain. Loke had helped Lucy back to her feet, though it didn’t seem to give her much more than an excuse to be held by him for a moment. Now the exceed had spoken she was glad that she was in his arms, though she could barely move a muscle. The words filled her with pain and she choked, not even realising that she was now heavily leaning on her celestial spirit. “He didn’t wake up…” she said, not even knowing how she had the strength to speak. Her breath was heavy in her chest, the battle beneath them was raging, but all she could hear in the back of her mind was the constant dripping. “He never woke up, but Crow Wing found him. They found him… Oh God…” Her knees gave in, closing her eyes and seeing nothing but the horrific scene she had seen behind the broken wall of the infirmary. In her mind’s eye she was stepping backwards but getting no further from the bloody body. Closing her eyes only made the image more vivid. She shook her head quickly, trying to wish away the truth into the darkest corners of her memories, desperately clinging to anything but the sound of dripping blood ringing through her ears.

Lucy’s tears and muffled cries filled the room as she buried into her celestial spirit, letting him hold her as tightly as he could. He was happy to oblige, both as a friend and a servant to her, but his stared upwards. He caught Gray’s eyes and held them there, a sense of determination reflecting back at the illusion. It was the same look he had given Gray the moment he had first stepped into Lucy’s apartment, a sense of knowing, shadowed in a sadness he held close to his chest. “It’s time for you to explain,” he ordered him.

There was something in Loke’s voice that made Gray realise he was submitting to his words, though he knew it was not because they came from such a good friend. He was no longer being spoken to by Loke of Fairy Tail, but by Leo, the leader of spirits. Gray gritted his teeth, knowing that these words would be more painful to the people around him than to himself but that didn’t mean they were easy on him. “Lucy is right,” he spoke slowly, keeping as much control to his voice as possible and trying to not avoid their eye contact. He needed his friends to see that his words were true, even if only spoken by an illusion. “I’m all that’s left of Gray. Not that I’m anything more than an illusion Mavis created,” he explained, though it felt like a lie. She had made him feel very accurately, but there was residual magic that had made him feel very _real_. Ice cold magic still hung in the air, invisible to the naked eye, and though it was almost all used up or dissipated to the wind, there was something inside of him that made him feel as if for a moment it was more than just an outburst of energy. “And the magic, Gray’s magic… and that won’t last long” he corrected himself, a slither of dread creeping into his voice. It hurt Gray, and it wasn’t fair that it hurt because it would have been so easy for Mavis to have created him without a heart. It would have been less painful for everyone if he just hadn’t been created at all, he would argue, knowing that a horrific goodbye was coming. While he felt so little like an illusion and so very _Gray_ he didn’t want to say farewell.

It wasn’t for his sake he had been created, he had to remind himself as he looked back at his friends. “You didn’t take this guild back because of vengeance,” he reminded them all, knowing that the next natural reaction was for them to feel anger. Right now, even he was feeling angry knowing that he had to stand strong in front of the people that he cared for and tell them he was going to make their lives even more miserable. “You fought today because of Fairy Tail, and Mavis brought me back to remind you of that. You did _everything_ right, even Juvia when she left me. She was already too late,” he said, because he was certain that Juvia would blame herself later. He hated to admit that he had been using the rainwoman. Where he was not able to open doors she had done so without hesitation, he had convinced her that it wouldn’t be proper to knock on Lucy’s door in the middle of the night, he had used her as a shield to stop any of his friends from jumping into an embrace. She had been incredibly useful to him and in life she had been, despite all of her flaws and infatuation, a true friend. He had saved her life that night by appearing in front of her and convincing her to leave the dangerous guild, but that was a price she would have gladly paid. He was lying that in saying that she had left after he had died but she needed to know that regardless she had been helpless to stop this. It wouldn’t help her, he knew, but he had to at least offer some comfort. After all, wasn’t that why he was still standing here?

Erza fell to her knees, her metal armour ringing off the floorboards with her heavy drop. Her eyes had filled with tears, her teeth gritted hard to stop herself from crying out. She pushed her hands against the floor, gripping them both into tight fists ready to punch through the world until it stopped spinning. She didn’t want to believe anything that she was hearing, even if it was spoken by such a familiar face. She trusted Gray, she had trusted him with her life, but then there had been moments when she hadn’t trusted him from his own. She understood completely what it was like to be a child of conflict, and the two had leaned on each other from a young age without even realising it. As her tears flowed she could once again hear the young boy on the riverside telling her that it was pointless to cry. Crying was a sign of weakness, and she wasn’t ready to give into it. “Crow Wing will pay,” she said, slamming her tight fist into the ground, the floorboards splintering under her fierce punch.

“So you’re just going to give up…?” Natsu’s words were quiet, shaking with emotion. He had not moved from his knees after drifting straight through Gray’s illusion, the reality sinking quickly as he realised that the truth had been staring at him this entire time. He had tried to push away the facts because every single one of them had wanted to believe it was real. They had been desperate to see their friend alive and well and able to talk to him after being out of reach for so long. And yet not one of them had questioned how he was on his feet, why he had not eaten, why he was refusing to touch anything and how none of the enemy had even looked at him. He gripped his fists angrily as he remembered the dark guild master coaxing him into lighting a pyre, realising that at the time he must have known exactly who it would be for. “You’re not even going to try and fight back?” he pushed himself to his feet, wobbling as he did so. Dark denial laced his voice and he looked back at the ice mage in defiance.

Gray took a staggered step back, not sure if he had an answer to the sudden challenge. “I-I don’t exactly have a choice!!” he retorted back, knowing that the dragon slayer was only speaking out of shock and grief but the words still stung him deeply. Would this be the thought that he would be leaving Natsu with? He had no idea how long Mavis’s magic could hold out, could these be the last words that he heard before disappearing into nothing?

Natsu stepped forwards, fire blazing in his eyes. “There’s always a choice,” he spoke clearly. “There’s always something more you can do, there is always something else you can do to get more strength and pull past it, there is always one more step that you can take. You’re just going to give up now?!” he said, continuing to step forwards until he was yelling straight into the illusion’s face.

“I don’t want this! I want to fight!” Gray yelled back at him, even though these may be the last words that he said to Natsu it was typical that he couldn’t help himself from getting pulled into yet another fight. This was supposed to be a tearful goodbye, a chance to make amends and to gain closure, and Gray was not supposed to be taking anything from this. He didn’t know if there was an afterlife or if the spirit he mimicked perfectly was already there, but he assumed there would be no way of remembering this. It would be selfish to fight for himself, and yet the words couldn’t help but pour out of him. “There was a time when I would roll over and take this, but now I want to fight just like you do. That was your fault, Natsu! You’re the one that has made this hard, you’re the one that convinced me that life was worth fighting for and it wasn’t worth tossing away – not for anything. I’d fight again if I could, but there is nothing left to fight and you have made that so hard to realise” he said, his eyes burning with a sudden anger. Death had been something he’d been ready to accept many times in his life. He had had chances to prepare himself for what he had believed he’d deserved. That was a long time ago, however, when he had been a lesser man and a poor excuse for a friend. In the six-day slumber, he couldn’t have accepted it. The same cold inside of Natsu whispered to Gray, though inside of the ice mage it was familiar and gentle. It never told Gray to give up but it told him to rest, to gather his strength and to remain in control. It was the warm flame blazing against his icy cold, whispering to him that it was worth fighting, that made things so much more uncomfortable. While he slept the ice had struggled against it, the wildness splitting through his nightmares with blinding light. It told him to keep fighting until it destroyed him, to keep pushing past his limits, to wear himself to nothing. He could feel the cold barely had the energy fight and began to warm to nothingness…

“So fight harder!” Natsu yelled at him, tears falling as he did so. “Fight against this and live, you icy bastard!” he begged him, the truth starting to seep in against all of his will. He went to grab him but Gray instinctively moved back from his touch, not wanting Natsu to have the stark reminder that there was nothing there to hold onto. Natsu fell forwards once again, this time onto his knees as he did nothing to stop himself. The tears were winning, streaming down his face and blurring his sight. “Don’t die on me…” he whimpered.

Gray knelt in front of him, both the fire and ice wizards on their knees in front of each other as they had been six days earlier. Gray’s heart broke for Natsu, finally realising that nothing else mattered but the friends in front of him. He could feel Erza, Lucy, Loke and Happy all watching him too, knowing that every one of his actions now would leave a lasting memory of how Gray had been. “I’m already dead,” he spoke softly, breaking the news as gently as he could to Natsu in the simplest of terms. Natsu couldn’t twist those words in his head, he couldn’t create some loophole that Fairy Tail members could crash through. Natsu understood what death meant. He understood how much it hurt to lose someone that he loved and he could feel his heart aching all over again. Gray watched with a pained expression as he wished just for a moment that he could put a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

Natsu stopped fighting. He put his head in his hands and cried.

The tiny cat gingerly stepped forwards, his own huge eyes filled with tears. He gently put his tiny paw on his friend’s arm, feeling small and worthless. “Look after Natsu, will you, Happy?” The cat lifted his head up to the ghost and his eyes became wider and waterier, giving a nod to his old friend that would be a true promise if only he’d been able to speak. He found himself scooped up quickly into Natsu’s arms as he was squeezed tightly, burying into him and content that he would be able to devote himself to lifting his friend’s spirits.

Gray looked up suddenly, as he already knew the First Master was standing on the edge of the mezzanine. His time was at an end. He swallowed hard, not willing to let himself go so easily. He wanted to fight, just like Natsu told him to, to stay in this land for as long as possible. He didn’t want to leave with tears still in his friends’ eyes, with so much left to do. His legs moved closer to Mavis against his will, her arm outstretched to take his hand and to lead him to oblivion. He stopped for a moment, asking her “wait” as he turned back to the friends that he was leaving behind. There were many more beneath him, many that he wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to who had truly deserved to see him one last time. The Strauss siblings, who had always been there to bring the entire guild full of light and joy; Cana, who had been there to welcome him from his first day within the guild; Marakrov, who had cared for him like a father and offered him shelter from the harsh world; and Juvia… His heart ached thinking of her, knowing that in her naïve infatuation this would no doubt sting her the most. He could only hope that she would forgive him for tricking her into leaving him behind at the guild, or at least hated him enough to take away some of the pain. Then there were the people not even in the guild, friends that he had made along the way…

“It’s time to go, Gray,” Mavis urged him gently, her hand still tilted up for him to take.

He hesitated, knowing that fighting Mavis would do nothing. Every part of him was disappearing slowly, his memories beginning to slip as the illusion unravelled. “Just one last thing…” he said to her, pulling his hands together and twisting them into the familiar shape of ice maker magic. A brilliant blue light from his hands shone upwards, lighting the air like the aurora borealis. All of the magical energy that the Shinigami canon had sent into the world finally wisped into view in a beautiful landscape of colour. The blues, reds and purples danced and rippled through the air for a few moments, shining in the eyes of each of his friends both above and below the mezzanine. Then, suddenly, the air shattered. In a violent beauty, a thousand tiny shards of ice materialised, gently falling to the ground.

Lucy looked up, tears still in her eyes as she let her hands reach out to catch one of the tiny snowflakes.

 _“I think Gray’s magic is more beautiful…”_ she could hear Erza’s voice speaking to her through a treasured memory. It had been the very first adventure that she had with her much loved friends, when Mirajane had jokingly said that they would become Fairy Tail’s strongest team. They had been on the train and she could remember being naïvely excited for the adventure ahead, and eager to learn more about her two new companions. _“Is it?”_ the stranger had said as he pulled his hands into strange and intricate shapes. Just as she had on that very first day, Lucy looked down at the tiny ice shard, and fresh tears began to fall as she saw the Fairy Tail symbol crafted as a melting fragment.

And Gray was gone.


	11. Decisions

The battle continued below. The Fairy Tail members had seen the falling ice and taken it as a cheer to move forwards, a breath of fresh air to push their next attack harder and win the day, though no one underneath knew what the symbols had truly meant. They fought for the guild mark, not for the ice itself, and that was exactly what the first master had intended.

There was a moment of stunned silence as Erza, Happy, Lucy, Loke and Natsu watched with teary eyes to where the image of their friend had been standing. None of them had the will to move, the fear that doing anything would cause the world to suddenly collapse on top of them with the inescapable truth. Losing a friend was difficult, but living without them was a torture none of them felt ready to endure. The reality had been pushed so suddenly into their hands that in the frozen moment there had been no time to brace themselves, no time to think or form a plan. Their entire lives had been shifted against their will. A group that had stayed true to each other since the day that they formed had cracked and some difficult decisions lay ahead. The past would always haunt them. What stung the most was although they had been given a conclusion, the words goodbye had not been uttered once. A final farewell was not as instant as a word and would take a long time to form.

As the last drop of ice fell to the floor, Erza requipped. The light twisted around her body as she disappeared into her magic, letting the energy sweep her away for just the shortest of moments before she emerged draped in new clothing. Her hair was tied up in a tight high pony tail, pulling back against her skin painfully. Her face was almost completely covered in by a piece of black cloth that folded into the rest of her outfit. The most surprising thing about her requip was that it wasn’t the bulky armour she usually used to protect her heart. Thin chailmail was underneath her soft black fabric, hugging her body but allowing the most movement. Her bulky sword had also disappeared in her change and she was now without arms, though by no means harmless.

Suddenly she yelled loudly as she kicked against the round man with all her might. Her friends looked at her in silent shock as she suddenly exploded into rage, the Crow Wing member now flying through the air and rolling to the other side of the mezzanine. Hazoula let out a shocked cry, clawing at the ground and stopping himself just before he came hurtling down the stairs. He let out the smallest sigh of relief before looking up to Erza, her eyes wild and filled with a rage that made him realise that crashing down the stairs would have been less painful. Erza lifted him back up and sent her knee into his large belly, yelling as she could feel bones breaking inside of him.

“Erza!” Lucy gasped, shocked to see her friend behaving in such a wild way. Erza had not been immune to anger or strong emotions, and she could be one to take things too far, but there had always been something calculated in the way that she had fought. This was not the expert fighting that she had come to expect from the S-Class wizard but something raw and untamed. “Erza he’s already been beaten!” Lucy found herself yelling. She watched as Erza slammed the enemy back into the ground, splitting the floorboards with her force. Lucy’s eyes went wider as she realised just how far this could go. “Erza you’re going to kill him!” she yelled out, her voice choking.

Natsu stood beside her, staring but making absolutely no effort to move forwards. “Why not?” Natsu asked, his voice completely flat. He watched unflinching as Erza’s fist dived into the man’s face again and again. “You saying he doesn’t deserve it?” he said, looking at Lucy blankly.

Lucy felt like she was staring at the face of a stranger as she looked at Natsu. He was just going to accept this, and more than that there was something about the way he was standing that told her that at least a part of him wanted to do it himself. He gritted his teeth as he turned away from Lucy and back to Erza, able to stop himself from diving in but he knew that if Erza hadn’t been so quick he would be the one delivering the punches. It wasn’t an easy instinct to deal with and even Erza had been battling with the moral choice, though it was only her black requip which gave this away. She had refused to draw a weapon for a reason; if she had he would be a bloody blur by now. “I’m sorry, Lucy, but I can’t expect you to understand this,” Natsu translated for her, his voice shaky but strangely distant. “You knew him for a few months, but we spent most of our lives with him. Gray was more than… is more than…” his words began to fail him and he swallowed hard. “He’s dead because of Hazoula. He killed him. It’s not fair, we’re supposed to show mercy when they haven’t given a damn? What about their mercy?” he gripped his fist tightly, a ball of flame appearing around it as his expression hardened.

Lucy staggered backwards, staring at her friends in disbelief. Though she knew she had been a member of Fairy Tail only for a short time she had never felt any less of a nakama than anyone else. This was the very first time that she had ever felt like an outsider to her own guild, deeply hurt that she had been accused of not feeling the same pain that her friends were. Deep down she knew there was truth to Natsu’s words, that she could not have the bond that had taken years for them to forge, but hearing it from the people she treasured most in the world _hurt_. Her tears continued to flow, not hot and feeling as if they were slicing through her pale cheeks. “I may not have been in Fairy Tail long…” she staggered, something that resembled the flame of anger in her voice, “but I know what it means to look after my friends. Even if that means stopping them.”

The flame inside of her was not anger but courage she realised as she bolted forwards, seeing her opening. Erza had slammed the defenceless wizard into the wall, concrete and plaster crumbling around of him as he barely even moved to breath. Lucy’s footsteps were quick, knowing that this may have been her last chance, and the wrong timing would leave her in no better shape than Hazoula. She dived between Erza and her pray, spreading her arms wide and shielding the enemy.

“Lucy!!” Loke shouted out, instantly seeing the danger that Lucy had placed herself into.

Lucy shivered but she refused to move. She could see Erza’s eyes growing wide as they looked back at the celestial wizard and Lucy struggled to even see her friend’s soul behind them. She held her breath for a moment, hoping that Erza was not too far gone that she would just punch straight through the blond friend. Erza gritted her teeth angrily instead, unleashing a sound like a beast snarling. “What do you think you’re doing?” she growled at her.

Lucy kept her arms outwards, shaking and wanting nothing more than to wrap herself into the smallest ball right now. “I won’t let you…” she whispered, knowing that her friends were both dangerously close to becoming wild animals and tearing her apart. Grief could change you, shock could destroy you, but she refused to let them succumb to their dangerous instincts. “I know what you want, because I want it too. Trust me, I feel it too. I know I haven’t known Gray as long as either of you but he was a friend and I feel like a piece of me is ripped away. But I can’t let you do this. The magical counsel won’t take this lying down. They’ll be here soon and they’ll be trying to point fingers at who kills who. They may look at this as a part of the battle, they may be understanding and go easy on you but…” her words had to be clear, she couldn’t let her tears drown out her meaning. “I know that it’s selfish but I can’t risk them taking you away too!!” she screamed loudly, shaking with emotion but standing tall.

Something about Lucy’s words struck both Natsu and Erza sharply. Her pain and torment was clear in her screams, the love inside of her breaking down into the same passion that ran through their veins, but instead of destruction she was trying to cling to her friends. Though her reasons may have seemed selfish to her they were driven primarily on love and fear of losing the ones that she cared for. It wouldn’t be long until her friends began to felt the same way, once they had pushed past the anger that tormented their common sense, and her words had struck into the truth that began to draw it prematurely to the surface.

Hazoula looked up as he lifted a shaking and bloody hand. He hadn’t seen the way Lucy’s words had hit Erza and Natsu and if he had he wouldn’t have trusted it. His life was on the balance and there was nothing he cared more about. He would do whatever it took, whether right or wrong, to save his own skin. “I didn’t kill him…” he said, finally piecing together what the Fairy Tail members were getting so upset about. Though he didn’t understand why they had acted the way they had earlier, or why the sky had rained ice, he knew that now that they were talking about the poor boy murdered in the infirmary. “It wasn’t me, but I know who it was. Hoohoo… I can tell you who it was…” he offered them, ready to push his death sentence onto the next victim.

Lucy’s eyes went wide, feeling like all of her good words were starting to fade away as the wizard behind her spoke. He may have been saving his own skin but he was doing nothing to save their souls. Erza’s hand began to glow and she pulled her long katana out of the ether, drawing it towards the wizard on the floor knowing Lucy was too small to cover his entire body. She only needed to add metal to her words. “Who?” she asked, a simple and powerful word which hung in the air.

The man smiled, blood seeping through his teeth but finally seeing there was a chance to survive this. “The spider guy… hoohoo… Huntsman they call him… he went after this one…” he said, glancing up to the blond that was protecting him.

Erza turned on her heels, not saying a word as she began to walk away.

Lucy gasped, realising that her friend was disappearing before her eyes. If she did what Lucy feared, she wasn’t sure if she would ever be able to see her in the same way again, even if the magic counsel took pity upon her. There had been lives lost before to the Fairy Tail wizard’s hands, she knew, and there were always victims in fierce battles. Erza had probably taken more lives than any of them. But Huntsman had already been defeated, Lucy had left him unconscious and she wasn’t sure if that would make any difference to the redhead right now. “Erza wait!” she called out, starting to step after her. Suddenly she stopped. A chilling thought followed her, knowing that her legs physically wouldn’t let her go any further forwards. She remembered just where Erza was going. “Erza, Gray’s in there…” she whimpered, her voice shaking. She didn’t want _anyone_ to see the mangled corpse, especially not the ice mage’s closest friend.

Erza’s steps slowed for the briefest of moments, but she kept going.

Lucy shivered, watching her friend walking down the steps and knowing that she couldn’t bring herself to follow. She felt weak. She should have grabbed Erza and dragged her away kicking and screaming until she could see sense. She knew she didn’t have the courage to go after her, the noise of the dripping blood suddenly flooding her senses at just the thought. Her own world was falling apart, and she was not alone. She looked behind, cursing herself for taking her eyes off the dragon slayer when he was so close to the man he wanted dead. She rushed back at him and grabbed his shirt, desperation in her eyes as she demanded “We need to stop Erza!!”

Natsu was looking at Hazoula, lost in thought. This man had killed Gray, that was the truth that he told himself was undeniable. He could remember the smug look on Hazoula’s face as he had stood on the Shinigami canon, spewing more and more ghouls towards them and distracting them. He remembered punching him and the tiny click only he could hear as the lever was pulled. Hazoula had put all the pieces into place, but he hadn’t been the one to pull the trigger, Natsu realised in that moment. His blame did not land easily with himself, however, knowing that there had been a series of murderers. Hazoula had equipped the Shinigami canon, Natsu had pushed the lever, Erza had been the intended victim, Gray himself had pushed himself into the firing line, the dark guild master had staged the attack, Juvia had left Gray in the guild alone and finally Huntsman had stabbed him as he slept. His eyes shone with tears, looking at Lucy and admitted “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do…” in a broken voice.

Lucy looked at him, her heart shattering. She let go of his shirt and dived at him with a full embrace, her arms tightly around his shoulders. His arms slowly raised to hold her back, hands gripping onto her sides as he rested his chin on her shoulder. He was so used to holding her protectively it was strange to feel himself leaning against her, but he quickly realised that she was leaning on him back. The realisation relaxed him, and he closed his eyes gently and squeezed.

 

Erza walked forwards, emotions fighting through the numbness she was desperately trying to cling to. In her future, there would be pain and heartbreak but right now they were still in the middle of a battle. The sounds of shouting and chanting and magical explosions actually made her feel more relaxed, but walking through the hallway dulled the sound. Her dark clothes now felt smothering and unfamiliar, the calmness in the air making it harder for her to fight against the thoughts that tried to creep into reality. Her breath was shaking in her chest and her legs threatened that they would give out in any moment. She tried to focus on what little shouting and fighting she could hear, reminded herself that she was in chainmail but what lay ahead didn’t need a physical armour.

The scene ahead gave her both relief and anxiety as it distracted her. She could see now why the round wizard had called Huntsman the ‘spider guy’, seeing the hallway covered in sticky white string twisted into split cobwebs. Curious, she put her fingertips against one of the white marks, instantly drawing herself away as she felt her sight blur at the touch. The cobwebs dulled her senses, she realised instantly, and she couldn’t risk the temptation of drowning into numbness. Her eyes followed the wall and saw where it had collapsed, actually a little impressed with Lucy before realising that it had more than likely been one of her celestial spirits who had crashed through the wall. She reasoned the man was still inside and she didn’t need to read the sign on the door to know that these were the infirmary doors.

She took in a shaking breath, the reach for the handle seeming to take an eternity. She could have gone through the hole in the wall, she reasoned as she drew a map of the room in her mind’s eye. Judging from the carnage outside there was a chance that she would have been able to walk in and out without once looking at the body, but she was afraid she would accidentally glimpse across without bracing herself.

Opening the door, she realised quickly there was no way to brace herself against this. Her heart felt like it had stopped in her chest as she stared forwards, eyes wide and unable to pull herself away. There was blood in this room, and violence. While she may have been able to tell herself that death had been peaceful in his sleep, there was nothing peaceful about the scene that she saw in front of her. Covers and clothes have been shredded, the sheets bloodstained and displaced from the violence of the stabbing. It was hard to convince herself that he hadn’t fought back from the way that he had been attacked over and over with significant strength, and a terrifying realisation dawned on her that whoever had done this had _enjoyed_ it. The blood was finally beginning to stop dripping from his fingertips hanging off the bed, and there was a stillness in the air.

Erza didn’t know how long she had been staring at him, her face drained of all colour. She ripped off the fabric from her face, realising suddenly that she was desperate for air. It felt as if she had to breathe for both of them, coughing as her lungs burned at the sudden desperate gasps. “Get… a grip on yourself…” she commanded herself, putting her hands on her head and closing her eyes tightly. She had to be strong, she had to always be strong. Fairy Tail needed her strength now and until her very last breath, no matter what was falling apart around her.

Her breathing calmed and she opened her eyes slowly, trying to control her emotions. She looked past the blood and violence for a brief moment as her eyes rested on his face. If she could just forget how horrific it was she could almost imagine that he was looking peaceful. A tear rolled out of her true eye and she tried for a brief moment to smile at him. Gently she pushed his hair back. It seemed pointless to try and correct his face when his body was so visible destroyed but the touch brought a realness to her sensations. He was too still to be asleep, different to how she had seen him for days beforehand, and as she pushed his final strand of hair back, the back of her fingers caught a drop of blood and smudged it against his cheek. A tiny surprised gasp left her mouth as she saw the strain of red blush his cheek and she immediately dropped her hand away. It was ruined beyond repair.

And she remembered why she was here. Her jaw tightened, determination in her eyes as looked up suddenly, staring past the to the far side of the room. There she could see the marks of the Crow Wing spider’s fall, the ground cracked beneath where he had slid across the floor and the wall buckled under him as he stayed unconscious. For a moment, he looked pitiful but there was the worst of reminders of his cruelty within her grasp. Erza stormed forwards, standing in front of Huntsman and staring at him as she leant down and took the fallen knife from the ground. The blood across the hilt had mostly dried, but it was still sticky and uncomfortably warm in her hand. It didn’t give her the same comfort her own weapon would, but there was a sense of justice to slay this man while he slept with the very same blade that had called need for their vengeance.

“I won’t stop you,” Makarov’s voice was calm and collected. Erza hadn’t seen him enter, assuming it had been from the hole in the wall, and the tiny man was incredibly quiet when needed. The voice of conscience had surprised Erza and she had visibly shook, her breath catching in her chest at the sudden sound through her emotional darkness. “If you think that this is the right thing to do, I won’t stop you,” he advised the S-Class wizard, letting more pain creep into his voice than he had intended. He was a father to all of Fairy Tail and a son was dead. His daughter stood in front of him, tall and as strong as ever, when all she needed to was to break into weakness. He was afraid, disappointed and cautious, in both the scene around him and the S-Class wizard, but he knew that only Erza could pull herself from this darkness. Whatever she chose would define her for the rest of her life, he knew, and even he had to admit that he didn’t have the answers. “The Magical Council will come and I will say I didn’t see you here. I will defend you, whatever you do. I will not let them take you away, if this is what you truly want to do, Erza.”

Erza turned back to the master, tears flowing freely down her face as she stared at him for guidance. The master was the closest thing she had ever had to a father and she needed now more than ever to be led the right way. If she left this room and let him live, she knew that the nightmares would eat her alive and she would forever blame herself for not taking the chance when she had it. If he lived she would be consumed with hate. If he died by her hand, then the hate would move to herself and she didn’t know what kind of monster inside of her would be unleashed. Darkness was on both sides.

Makarov nodded, seeing the conflicting opinions in his beautiful daughter as he stepped forwards. “You need to be certain, Erza. I know that too often the bad guys will win. You have seen too much in your years, and if I could take all of that away then I would,” he said, his words grumbling into his moustache.

Erza shivered, the blade barely hanging in her hands. Even if it hadn’t been Makarov’s intention her thoughts flooded to Jellal, remembering the tower of heaven. She remembered the pain of seeing the person that she loved taken by the darkness and her screaming, begging that he would come back. She remembered losing Simon, a pain that stung her especially hard now, and the way that she had looked at Jellal after that. Even after the cold-hearted murder of her childhood friend, she had forgiven him, she had loved him, because deep down she knew he had some goodness inside of him. She cursed herself as she tried to pull herself out of the memories of Jellal, telling herself that she didn’t know why that was relevant, but the truth dawned on her that she didn’t know if Huntsman had a Erza. Maybe there was that one person who could see through all of the darkness and sadistic nature and have faith that one day they would come home. Maybe there was an Erza who would cry for Huntsman.

The blade fell to the floor with a loud clatter. Makarov gave a grim smile, but Erza spoke before he could take any comfort in her actions. “I will talk to the magical council. I will not go down for this. Death penalties are rare, but I will do everything in my damned power to make sure he dies for this.” Her words were cold and lingering, but finally there was real pain inside of them too. She gripped her fist, knowing that it would take the longest time to come to terms with what she had seen, but forcing the magic counsel to hear her plea would give her something real to focus on until that day.

The master nodded in agreement. “We can try. I’ll do everything I can,” he promised her.

 

_“Fairy Tail. Some of you have been here for your whole lives, some for years, or a few months. Most of you spend every day in this guild, some of you come and go as the wind blows, but inside we are all true members of Fairy Tail. When an enemy attacks us, they attack all of us, and we fight back with all of the Fairy Tail’s strength._

_“Today, we lost a family member. Gray Fullbuster was killed in these halls by Crow Wing. Their attack had been an attack on all of us, their disregard for life cut us all deep. Today, we claimed back this guild, we fought and we have a great victory here to celebrate. This isn’t the end of our battle, however. The world will look at Fairy Tail, some may try to take advantage of our weakness and grief. Fairy Tail is not weak. We will not create a martyr out of Crow Wing, but we will create an example of them. We will show the world that in the face of adversity, Fairy Tail pulls together, Fairy Tail fights harder, Fairy Tail protects its own. No one will take a member of Fairy Tail so lightly again. No more blood will spill in these halls._

_“This is a victory. It is a painful victory, but the world will know that we won. No one can believe otherwise. The loss will stay with us for years, our grief will be plain for the world to see, but their defeat will make history. The world will see that Fairy Tail does not back down. Gray knew that. He would fight for that. He would fight for Fairy Tail. I ask all of you to do the same today. I know that is difficult what I’m asking of you, but I need to know that every one of you will accept that today we won. Our losses were great, but this day was won. And the world will never see a day like this day again.”_


	12. A Rainy Day

The rain was unrelenting.

The heavens opened upon the Kardia Cathedral that day, but for Juvia there had been no respite from the dark clouds above her. Her pink umbrella had barely left her hand in the last few days and she had struggled to pull herself inside from the rain storm of her own emotions. The rain felt real, it felt close, and the cold brought her pain to the surface. She had been stunned when she was told the news, her eyes filled with tears when it was explained to her that she had left her love behind to die alone. Compared to that, the slicing rain bouncing beneath her feet barely felt worth caring about. Most of the time she even forgot to raise her umbrella, letting the water hit her skin and drop straight through her water body. Magnolia had experienced bright sunshine for the previous three days. Those in the guild knew that the reason behind the sudden weather change was Juvia’s determination to find Lyon. She had actually been shocked that she was the first one to have mentioned his name and though her legs felt like they would give out she refused all aid and announced she would tell him the news herself. Though no one in Fairy Tail admitted it, the breath of fresh air from the poor weather had done them all some good, but it simply followed Juvia from Magnolia to the next town. Now, however, on the day of the funeral, the rain poured harder than ever.

People began to come to the cathedral, their black suits coated in water and black umbrellas shielding the ground from the showers. It seemed impossible to shake away, and the mutterings could be heard. “What a depressing day…” some whispered unhappily. Juvia gasped at their disappointment, but quickly turned away before people realised she had heard. Her cheeks burned brightly, considering to herself that it might be best to just leave this place and let the funeral have a ray of sunshine. “Juvia is sorry…” she mumbled, fiddling with the cuffs of her sleeve.

Lyon looked back at her, seeing her umbrella had once more slipped backwards and her face was being covered in the rain, drowning with her tears. He took the umbrella handle gently and pulled it upright, squeezing her hand into place to keep herself shielded. “There’s nothing to be sorry for,” he assured her, though from the way she avoided his eyes he could see she didn’t believe him. “I’m serious, Juvia. There are worse things than rain right now.”

Juvia’s cheeks burned brighter, staring down at the ground and watching the droplets bounce around. “Juvia is sorry for all of this…” she whispered, her voice breaking. Her eyes glazed over, the memories flooding back behind her beautiful blue eyes. “Juvia-“

“You didn’t do this,” Lyon broke her off, having heard this a thousand times already. He had been thankful that the rain woman had come to him when she did, glad that instead of a communication lacrima he had been able to actually hold onto her hand as she spoke. He had seen the guilt in her eyes then as he did now, one that he knew would not go for a very long time. “You can’t blame yourself. No one else does,” he assured her. The guilt in her eyes stung him twice. He wanted to protect her, to care for her and truly he still had feelings for her. More than this he saw the guilt from Gray’s eyes, sharply reminded how he had made his fellow ice mage’s life a living hell, tormented with the screams that he had killed their master. He wished he had said a thousand times over that it wasn’t his fault, or even just once at the very beginning, when it truly mattered. Though he couldn’t turn back time, he would do everything in his power to tell those words to Juvia instead.

Cana pushed between them both, splashing the ground as she zigzagged forwards. She didn’t seem to be wearing much different from usual; although she was usually in an almost completely black outfit she did nothing to cover the bikini top even in the hurtling rain. She made no apologies to Lyon and Juvia as she staggered past them, not even realising that she had hit them both. Her eyes lit up ahead as she saw a flash of pink, however, and she almost fell over herself pulling an arm around the dragon slayer.

Natsu looked up, feeling the full weight of Cana suddenly against his shoulders. His sense of smell was more vibrant in the rain and though it overpowered many of the scents around him it did little to shield him from the stench of strong alcohol. He wasn’t surprised that she was drinking, it was a rare sight to see her without a drink in her hands, but it was surprising to actually see her drunk. A lazy smile rested on her face as she ruffled the pink spikes of hair, barely able to keep the balance to walk the same direction as him. “What a day for it!” she exclaimed, a little too loudly, tipping back a square looking bottle into her mouth.

“Cana…” Lucy whispered harshly, her eyes glancing back at Juvia in a warning and hopes that she hadn’t seriously hurt the rain woman’s feelings. “Maybe you should take it easy…” she advised her, looking at the clock and realising it had not yet struck ten.

Cana laughed and hiccupped, almost pushing Natsu from his track into the doorway. “You think I’d try and do this _sober_?” she scoffed, and behind the playful glimmer in her eyes was the heartache that her drunken glaze so desperately tried to hide. “You guys look like you could do with a little liquid courage too!” she offered, waving the bottle in front of them both.

Lucy looked at the drink as if it was poison, suddenly stiffening. Natsu, however, took it out of her hand gladly and took a swig. Lucy went to shout out, trying to protect her friend from the drunken state that Cana had fallen into, but knew she had no rights. Natsu instantly regretted it. He coughed loudly, throwing it back into her chest and doubling over. “What the hell is that…?” he demanded of her, continuing to cough through the foul tasting liquid that burned unpleasantly through his chest.

Cana looked at the bottle, looking at the label but unable to read anything through her blurred eyes. “Huh, I guess it does usually take a lot stronger stuff to make me drunk nowadays…” she slurred and she tipped it back into her throat and drank like water.

Natsu watched in amazement, realising that for Cana to break through and outdo her own alcoholic consumption was quite a feat indeed. It only served as a distraction and he understood that instinct completely. In the same way, he knew that inside Erza was trying to control every detail of the funeral, her eyes blazing in the anger she was trying so hard to craft into something practical. She had already been there for hours, everyone knew, giving up on the concept of sleep in favour of perfection. Lucy, on the other hand, had dived into her existing friendships, though she shared the same desire to be useful. While Erza had refused her offerings as a shoulder to cry on unless she was able to work as she offered the moral support, Natsu had gladly accepted her into his home. It had been hard for Natsu and he had spent most of his time leading to this day in stunned silence. Happy and Lucy filled the home with noise and a pleasant background of chatter and it had meant more to him than he could have ever admitted. Today was inescapable for all of them, however. Most of Fairy Tail had already taken their seats, whispering small words to one another about the future and the past, good memories and bad. Natsu knew what was facing him as he passed through the large doors and into the cathedral itself, preparing to give his friend an official goodbye. There would be no distraction from the coffin in front of them.

 

Natsu ran out of the doors as quickly as his feet could take him. He had listened, he had cried, and he had tried his damned hardest to stay sitting in his seat the entire way through. It had taken everything inside of him to not jump up and declare that they were lying, to try to attack the coffin and urge Gray into one last fight. He had gripped the seat so hard there would no doubt be a permanent black mark from his flaming fingers. He had stayed, he had been as patient as he could, but the second that the ceremony ended he jumped to his feet and ran. He ran and ran and his legs ached but he didn’t care. He didn’t know where he was running to, just away from the sad faces, away from the pity and the pain. He couldn’t watch them take the coffin into the ground, he couldn’t watch them bury his friend.

His breath ached in lungs and he finally stopped, somewhere in the forests far from the town. He put his hands on his knees, instantly regretting the one sip from Cana’s mysterious glass, feeling the same burning inside of him now. It had tasted like a painful fire, he decided, trying to ignore the tears running down his face. His heartbeat was blasting through his ears, shaking breath raging through his body. He hadn’t even noticed the young woman creeping up behind him, hesitating before calling his name lightly.

Natsu turned, feeling like he was in a dream. Lisanna had been the last person he would have expected to follow and he could feel his heart twisting painfully as he looked back at her. He swallowed hard as he looked, realising as she shifted out of her takeover spell that she had granted herself long and powerful legs to keep up with the dragon slayer’s grief-stricken disappearance. She had a soft look on her face, the concern that he had been so desperately trying to run from, but there was something that both of them knew brimming below the surface: The last time Natsu had felt these emotions it had been for her.

Lisanna shivered as she stood, staring at him and suddenly losing her confidence. “I’m sorry…” she whispered, though it wasn’t the same apology that he had heard so many strangers come to him and offer. This was an apology for her own presence. “I just wanted to check that you were alright…” she told him, torn and ready to bolt if she thought even for the briefest moment that he would be able to cope without anyone else around.

Natsu looked down, his heart still racing in his chest. “No…” he spoke slowly, as he pulled himself down to the floor and sat with his back to one of the giant trees. “I’m not OK…” he admitted, pulling his knees close to his chest and wrapping his arms around his legs.

Lisanna paled but stepped forwards, realising that now she had to be the Lisanna that he had once loved, not the distant figure that she had become to him since returning to the guild. Ever since she had returned from Edolas, though she had seen the beaming smile on Natsu’s face, she had been left at the guild while he ran away with his companions to the next great adventure. It used to be her by his side, it used to be her that he would be constantly saving and she who was trying to impress him with every attack. Though it was cruel to say that she had been replaced by Lucy, it was also undeniable. Now was not the time for her own torments, however, she thought as she sat close to Natsu. She had to be the old Lisanna, the Lisanna that he would come to in the rare moments of weakness and sadness, the Lisanna he could bear his all to. Her own heart felt heavy on this day, she had also lost a friend, but she knew that nothing she felt would be anywhere close to Natsu’s anguish. She put her head on his shoulder gently, letting him soak whatever strength that he could from her simply being there.

He hesitated to accept the kindness from Lisanna, because deep down he still found it incredibly difficult to come to terms with the fact that she was there. He couldn’t deny that as he had sat listening to the farewells he had found himself drifting to the memories of saying goodbye to Lisanna. It was different circumstances now, but on the day of the funeral it was the exact same pain that ran through his veins. “I’m glad you’re here, Lisanna…” he admitted slowly, trying to puncture through the pain with words.

Lisanna looked back at him curiously. “I almost didn’t come…” she admitted, remembering the conversations she had had with her brother and sister. Her emotions had fluctuated back and forth and she didn’t know if she could watch them cry knowing that two years before she had caused these same tears. She had to remind herself that it wasn’t her funeral, it was her friend’s, and it was her friends that would need all the support that they could get. Her absence would have been noted, eventually, and she didn’t want to draw more attention away from the difficult farewells. “But I wanted to make sure that you were all alright. And I wanted to say goodbye to Gray, too,” she admitted. The two hadn’t spoken much as children, mostly just to fight over Natsu’s attention, but the amount that Natsu had complained about him made it almost feel like he was just as much a part of her life.

“It doesn’t make it easier though, does it?” Natsu spoke into the sky, looking up. This far away from the cathedral he could finally see the bright blue sky, and looking down on the town he thought he could almost pinpoint the exact place Juvia must have been standing from where the huge black cloud circulated below. He felt sorry for her in her constant storm, but right now he would have almost accepted some raindrops to brush away his tears. He flinched unexpectedly as he felt Lisanna snuggle next to him, and realised that her hair was soaking in the tears as they ran down his cheeks. He frowned, realising as he put his arm around her that she was real and she was here, and he couldn’t let himself regret not making the most of it. “I’m glad you’re here,” he repeated, this time even more heartfelt as he rested his cheek against the top of her head, letting his tears run into her light hair. While his loved ones seemed to be slipping through his fingers, it was good to know at least one of them had come back.

 

Eventually Natsu pushed his hand against the tree behind him, using it to pull himself and the quiet girl to their feet. They both agreed that it was time to return to the guild. Though Natsu had obediently stayed through the entire church ceremony, he hadn’t followed the coffin in its final descent into the ground. He knew that was where his friends would be now, though as he watched the sun moving through the sky it occurred to him that it would be next to no time before they would be heading back to the guild too. Natsu and Lisanna were in no hurry to return, enjoying the more calming walk back to the guild as they finally began to talk about nothing at all. For a brief moment in the chaos it was like it had been in years gone by, just the two of them walking through the forest and the outskirts of Magnolia, looping around to the guild that they called home. They found themselves able to smile, and even on occasion give a small laugh. It had been well needed, Natsu realised as his heart began to lighten. As they walked the air shifted, and the wetter it got the closer they were to the rest of their friends. A part of that was actually comforting. It was a close feeling, knowing that a storm was coming but once it passed the sky would be cleared.

When they approached the guild and saw figures standing around, their instinct had been first one of despair. There had been rumours flying around Magnolia that echoed the dark guild master’s threats, warning them that this was only the first crack in Fairy Tail’s armour and that every dark guild from miles around would be ready in waiting to pounce against them. This had been Crow Wing’s intention from first entering their hall when they had known they couldn’t keep the guild alone. The day of the funeral everyone knew was one of the biggest risks, and they had worked closely to make sure not a single soul remained inside – it was all or nothing for the strength of the guild, and they couldn’t risk it being destroyed with a few poor souls trapped inside. The guild doors had also been covered in some of the strongest sealing spells in existence, many different mages casting them to redouble their efforts. If anyone attempted to take an empty guildhall, it would not be an easy task.

It explained why the figures were all outside, Natsu realised as he approached in caution, but confusion spread over him as he realised that these were many faces that he recognised. Though most of the strongest and most memorable guild members had been in the cathedral itself, standing now were faces of Lamia Scale, Sabertooth, Mermaid Heel and Blue Pegasus. In confusion Natsu stepped closer, looking at them all and trying to work out exactly why they were all stood in formation outside of the Fairy Tail doors.

Sherry waved wildly as she saw Natsu and Lisanna walking forwards, breaking out of her group to run to greet them. “Is it over already?” she asked them both, blinking and silently wondering why they had both come without company.

Natsu looked up at her and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Uh, I kind of ran out a little early, I guess…” he admitted, realising that this meant that no one else had shown up at the guild yet. Now he felt foolish for only staying for the words and not for actually putting Gray into the ground, but it had been more than he would have been able to endure. He snapped himself out of the thoughts, looking up at them all. “What’s going on here? Why are you all outside our guild?” he asked the pink haired female curiously.

She looked back proudly to all of the members of all of the separate guilds. It hadn’t been so long ago that these people had all been fighting one another, competing over the position of strongest in Fiore and for many struggling to get enough jobs to keep their guild-members happy. There had always been rivalry, but all too few  opportunities to pull together. “We heard a rumour that someone was going to attack the guild while you were away. We couldn’t let that happen, so we’re all here to protect it for you,” she said, her voice dancing through the makeshift army and spreading her pride.

Natsu looked back at them all, visibly taken aback. Magnolia had not been an easy journey away for some of these people, and though most of these guilds had members at the graveyard paying their respects, they also had send large groups of fighters to stand outside of their doors for hours. If Natsu had been more observant he would have also seen many of them outside of the cathedral doors, at the graveyard, and dotted around the town in the more opportunistic places of protection. “You guys… did all this… for us?” he asked, not sure if he should have felt offended that Fairy Tail had not been able to defend itself or touched that they had gone so far to make this difficult day as painless as possible.

Sherry smiled confidently at him and pointed with her thumb towards a pile of unconscious bodies. “It looked like you needed it, too,” she told him, the marks of enemy guilds across the unconscious bodies and a magical prison surrounding all of them. “You know an attack like this isn’t just an attack on Fairy Tail, it’s an attack on all of our guilds,” she explained, holding her arms out to show all of the people that had gathered around them. “The guilds aren’t as closed off as they used to be. My Sherria and your Wendy are close friends, Ren and I are together. And while I have no idea what Lyon and Gray actually were to each other, I can tell in the end they were close,” she said. Even though all of her examples had come from her beloved Lamia Scale, it was clear that as she looked around herself she could see all of the connections between every one of their guilds. “We’re all together for all of our sakes, and for the _love_ that we all share,” she said proudly, cupping her hands into a heart shape.

Natsu nodded slowly, realising that she had been right. Anger was his first response, looking at the enemies that had tried to take advantage of the empty guildhall and the grieving comrades. He wanted to fight, to run into the magical prison and blast them all into oblivion. If the rival guilds had not been here, then they probably would have had no guild to walk back into now. After all the loss and heartbreak they had endured, he wasn’t sure how many of them would have been able endure building the guild from the bottom up. A guild was supposed to bring protection and joy and the enemies were doing everything in their power to break that trust. The enemy had lost, however, to the hands of many new friends. As the anger subsided, he felt truly blessed and thankful toward the familiar smiles he saw in front of him, realising that they didn’t need to have the same guildmark to be his nakama. “Thank you…” he said, still in wonder at the generosity that these people had shown Fairy Tail. This was only the first wave of attacks, he knew, but they had stood strong from the first step and showed all enemies that the official guilds did not bow easily to the dark. The crack in the Fairy Tail armour had instantly been supported by a giant shield of the other guilds. Everyone knew that the day would come that Fairy Tail would be called to repay the generosity but they hadn’t acted with the intention of being able to cash in a later favour; they had been selfless and in that moment, the wizarding world was one. It was just a shame that it had taken losing a friend to realise just how many allies they had.

 

Lucy was shivering, the wet cold having seeped into his skin long beforehand. Her boots were covered in thick black mud though she had done her best to try and stay out of the way of the upturned earth, but the waterlog had made it impossible for anyone to avoid the dark river that ran across the grassy graveyard. The rain was starting to let up and she looked up at the sky and finally saw some blue piercing through the black clouds. Juvia must have been back at the guild by now, Lucy realised as she put her hand out from underneath her umbrella. The thought of having the sunshine to warm her bones was comforting but she knew that she would get even more warmth from the busy guild, even if she had to pass through more rain to get there. She looked back at Erza, her mouth twisted into concern. The requip wizard hadn’t seemed to even notice that the sun was now out, though she had already refused an umbrella.

Erza, feeling Lucy’s eyes on her back, glanced over her shoulder. “I won’t be long,” she assured Lucy, but she had already said this to Lucy several times. Every other person from the funeral had already gone back to the guild for the wake and before the ceremony Erza had made a long speech about how important the final party would be. Now she was actually standing at the grave, however, she struggled to pull herself away. “You can go ahead. I’ll follow you soon.”

Lucy took a small step forwards, reluctant but knowing that they had already been standing here for the longest of times. “Are you sure…?” Lucy asked, realising that this would only be the first time that Erza would stand alone on this spot. This grave would be visited many times for many years to come.

Erza gave a short nod, looking back at the grave in front of her and reading the name over and over, sketching it into her memory. “Please,” she told Lucy. “I need a moment of privacy.”

Lucy took a hesitant step back, surprised that Erza had been so open with her intentions. It had been plain for Lucy to see that Erza was struggling but she had not expected her to so openly ask for the sentimental request. Lucy gripped her hands tightly, knowing that she wanted to leave Erza alone even less now, but she would have to accept her plea. “Of course,” Lucy said grudgingly, taking another step back and slowly turning on her heels. “There’s another umbrella by the doorway, if you need it. It’ll be raining at the guild,” she offered her gently as she walked away, making a mental note to send someone back to collect her if they didn’t see her in the next hour or so.

Erza was finally alone. She continued to stare at the grave in front of her, amazed at the detail that they had put into the stone. The way that the blue stones were carefully cut bounded the light in all directions, looking not only like ice but almost identical to the fairy tail symbols that Mavis’ illusion had created in the final battle to reclaim the guild. Mavis’ creation, or was it truly Gray? Separating the two had been difficult for Erza and it was generally believed in the guild that while the image of their friend had only been created to lead the guild to victory, the magic which had hung in the air been a part of his very soul and the combination of the two had been very _Gray_. This was what Erza believed in her heart, remembering the way that she had protected him in the hallway and the thankful smiles that he had given her in return. There was no way that Mavis could have possibly seen so deeply into his heart, Erza told herself, wanting to believe that she had been able to repay Gray’s sacrifice in those last terrifying hours.

She closed her eyes tight quickly, the image of the body flashing back to her mind in full force. She felt herself suddenly winded, holding onto her stomach and trying to desperately supress the memories. She could smell the blood again, hear the buzzing of her heartbeat in her ears and her body trembled. She had been doing so well pushing back the flashbacks when with her friends, but here alone in front of her friend’s grave they had taken control of her.

She fell to her knees in front of the stone, gritting her teeth tightly and trying to look past the splitting aches. Looking up and reading the name over and over did not offer her the respite that she had hoped it would, and it took everything inside of her to not punch the perfect headstone and crack it into two.

“You fuck…” she breathed, finally feeling her anger directed to the most defenceless of targets. “You really fucked me up…” she breathed sharply, her tears falling suddenly and choking her words. The flashbacks began to slowly subside, but the ringing in her ears did not leave and the heaviness in her chest had not lessened. Speaking had a strange feeling overcoming her, however, and once she started she found that she could not stop. “You’ve really done it now, Gray. I warned you, didn’t I? I always warned you that this would happen…” she shook her head, her soaking scarlet hair sticking to her forehead and tear streaked cheeks.

For a moment, it felt like he should have been able to answer her, and instead of the crushing sadness she had expected hearing only silence back, she felt strangely as if she was being listened to. She sat back, her breathing beginning to calm as she felt as if she was finally able to talk to him, finally able to release the words that threatened to eat her from the inside. “You know, without you there I’m probably now the saddest story of Fairy Tail. That’s just pathetic, isn’t it?” she mumbled, brushing her cheek with the back of her hand. “Not that there was much between us before. In fact, we probably just shared first place…” she said, not even sure what she was saying anymore but letting it all drain out of her. From the moment she had met Gray, there had been a look of darkness resting in both of their eyes, an inner demon that haunted their childhood days. The demon was the past and though neither mentioned its presence they had always known it to be there. A trembling breath left her as she finally realised what this was leading to. “You’re with your parents now, though… And with Ur. I suppose that there is some goodness in that…” she said, her voice trailing away into slower breathing.

“Master gave me this…” she said, opening up her hand and looking at the silver necklace that bit into the palm of her hand. “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with it. I’m not sure why they would take it away from you,” she admitted, knowing that it felt strange that wherever Gray was he would be without the necklace he seemed to cherish deeply. Even when he would take off every last piece of clothing the tiny silver cross would always remain close to his chest. “I wish I’d asked you what it actually meant…” she whispered again, her eyes flicking between the blue sparkling Fairy Tail symbol and the tiny silver knife. “There’s so much I know that I don’t know about you, that now I’ll never know. You and I are one and the same in that way. Sometimes the past can be too painful to believe was real…” she realised, her heart twisting painfully as she knew there would truly be no one else who could understand the tears that she held back every moment of every day. Erza had always felt a connection with the younger ice mage, and it had been this that had sent her to eventually care for the dragon slayer also, and in turn Happy, Lucy and all of the friends that they had cared for along the way. He had dared her to care for something for what felt like the first time in her life and to let herself feel joy at the risk of feeling pain. She was certain he felt the same. She didn’t regret a moment of her heart being open to Fairy Tail but she wished it could have been without days like this.

She slowly began to pull herself to her knees, though it hurt more than just her aching muscles to do so. “There will be parts of me that I’ll probably never tell them. I always imagined one day I would tell you, though. Perhaps I still will. Do you think you’ll listen?” she asked wistfully, a sad smile on her face. Gently she pulled the silver chain into her fingertips, slipping it over her neck and letting the silver fall into her chest. She twisted the tiny pendant in her hand, letting it catch the light at all angles. Though it was obviously too small to be a real sword, the touch of metal would always bring her comfort.

“Goodbye, Gray.”


	13. Epilogue

It was a bright and beautiful day and the crowds were cheering as loudly as they could as the sky exploded into bright colour and explosive fireworks. Streams of pink, blue, green, red and yellow danced through the air, tiny pieces of paper floating down and falling into the hands of excited children. Music blasted through the stadium and a positive vibe rushed through the city of Crocus and flooded through the hearts of the people of Fiore. The last Grand Magical Games had been the most exciting comeback they had ever seen in their generation and the question on everyone’s lips this year was how could Fairy Tail possibly top that? Would another guild finally be ready to steal the crown as Fiore’s strongest magical guild, or would the title remain firmly in their hands? The chatter was alive and the general consensus was not only that Fairy Tail could win, but that they _should_ win. Barely a bookmaker in the city took bets for their team anymore, realising they would quickly lose all their money if the favourites smashed their way to the top once again.

It had been a difficult ten months since the attack on the Fairy Tail guild. They had expected enemy guilds to come in their waves to try to take advantage of Fairy Tail, but what had surprised them the most was the continued support from every other guild. The danger the master of Crow Wing had described had been very real, they realised quickly, as the guild was attacked and threatened multiple times after the funeral and for the following months. Sabertooth, Lamia Scale, Mermaid Heel, Blue Pegasus and many more guilds had stayed in Magnolia for weeks after the first attacks, lending their aid wherever they could and making sure that both civilians and wizards were kept safe from the dark guilds. The rival official guilds knew that an open attack against the strongest wizards of Fiore threatened everything that guilds stood for. For the most part, they were able to stop the enemy plots before they had even unfolded, but there had been times that a full war waged between the light and dark. One by one the other official guilds were also attacked and though the other guilds eventually retreated to defend their own towns, if anyone was in danger than it was common knowledge that the surrounding guilds would come to their aid no matter what. One by one the enemy fell under the full union of wizards.

The Magical Council had quickly found themselves between a rock and a hard place, knowing that to argue against the inter-guild conflicts was to threaten all six of the strongest guilds at the same time, plus many more smaller guilds which had offered from time to time to lend their aid. Even the people began to offer their support, unable to fight themselves but able to scream and shout if the magical council threatened to take away the members of the light guilds. The Magical Council eventually agreed to not only discount the official guild’s actions as self-defence but to offer additional protection, mostly under Doranbolt’s leadership. It was the closest thing to an alliance that the magical council and the guilds of Fiore had had for a great many years and the rewards spoke for themselves. The crime quickly faded to almost nothing, the dark guilds crept into silence once more and an uneasy peace began to spread over the country. The shield that had been created to protect Fairy Tail at its weakest was now protecting all good wizards of the world.

The Grand Magical Games this year was not only a celebration of power and strength but also of allegiance. When the competitors looked upon each other’s faces in the arena there was barely a stranger in sight. These were people that had fought alongside each other, either at the last Grand Magical Games or in the guild wars of the last few months, and it would prove to make an interesting competition. Every one of them knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses now, their alliances and their motivations and the audience gossiped at the many possibilities that could unfold from this.

A huge cheer erupted from the stands that made it clear to the whole city that Fairy Tail had entered the ring. The commentators could barely hear their own voices pushed magically across the crowds, all three of them shouting “Fairy Tail has entered the arena!!” and still finding their words drowned away.

Natsu, Erza, Wendy, Lucy and Elfman walked into the arena, their heads held high as they watched the crowd lose control of their excitement. A wide grin graced every one of their faces as they watched the adoration around them, the tiny fluttering’s of colourful paper scattering through the air and the sky above exploding into a brilliant light. They all wore matching outfits, a different design to last year, each draped in the colour of their Fairy Tail symbol with a large black guild mark sketched into backs. Blue and white cuffs and dark trousers or skirts held their outfit designs together, and every one of their costumes showed off their guild marks with pride. Quite frankly, however, they could have walked out in paper that covered them from head to toe and the guild pride would have still been inescapable.

“The crowds are really going wild here, aren’t they, kubo?” the disguised King asked from the commentator’s box, his giant pumpkin head tilted to the side.

“Well, it’s not hard to see why!” the main commentator said into his microphone, obviously sounding just as excited as they crowd around him. “This time last year they were the underdogs and no one had even expected them to qualify.”

The second commentator, the retired Magic Council member, nodded slowly. “And if the rumours are true, they have even more to play for this year. Let’s not forget that this last year has been a constant battle for most of the guild’s in Fiore, Fairy Tail most of all. They really need to prove to the world that even with one of their members down they can still regain their title. I think everyone is expecting great things from Fairy Tail this year.”

Not listening, Natsu grinned up at the audience but eventually turned to the others inside of the ring seeing the many familiar faces in front of him. While many had a determined look in their eyes he could sense no malicious intent from a single one of these people, a great many of them he would call his friends though he wouldn’t let that hold him back. This year, with the upset of the inter-guild conflicts and the controversy of Raven Tail last year, they had been particularly strict in only allowing guilds which had been official for over five years. It had also helped thin the rankings as over the last year the amount of wizard guilds in Fiore had tripled. People were finally starting to see the protective nature of an official guild and new masters scattered across the land to offer their own safe havens. The number of dark guilds disbanding had also created a lot of rogue wizards, many of which were ready to see the light, though it was not an easy task to ensure that they truly changed their ways. Even Fairy Tail had taken on many unusual characters and though it wouldn’t be right to say they were instantly trusted, in most cases the warming light of the guild had been enough to ensure loyalty and respect from their newest recruits.

The heart of Fairy Tail never truly changed, however. They continued to fight for what they believed, defended their nakama until their bodies were broken and tried to make the most of every single day. Though they had lived by this mantra every day, the Fairy Tail reputation meant more than anything. While it was undeniable that Fairy Tail was the most influential of all guilds, there was some debate whether it was still the strongest. This Grand Magical Games was the final nail to ensure their place in Fiore and even if they did not come out as number one they still had to be victorious. Natsu himself wouldn’t accept second place and while he was sure that there were many in the games who would be willing to give him his victory, he would accept no less than a fair win.

Suddenly, he was pulled out of his thoughts as Lucy gently tapped him on the shoulder, staring back at the Fairy Tail stands. There, Mavis’s legs swung from the sides of the walls as she looked below, a glint in her eyes. Though she found herself often avoiding human interaction whenever she could, she could not rightly refuse the Grand Magical Games. While the days went slowly for a woman asleep for almost a century, the once a year event could always bring a sparkle to her eyes. She put her hands together, looking down at the guild that she had created as her heart overflowed with pride. “Go Fairy Tail!!” she shouted out, though her words were drowned to all but those immediately beside her.

One of those close enough to hear was her very own creation, Gray. He leaned over the wall and watched with interest, ignoring the stunned faces of his friends beside him as he counted each of the faces he had recognised from the last games. There was a bitterness as he watched, however, as he said under his breath “It doesn’t feel right not being there with them,” to the First Master, catching the eye of the dragon slayer below.

The Fairy Tail members in the arena momentarily forgot themselves, all staring into the stands in disbelief. It had taken some time for them all to realise that this wasn’t some strange reincarnation and that Gray had been created the same way that Mavis had called upon him before, though with none of the familiar ice magic in the air was anyone’s guess how true to his character he really was. “Mavis…” Erza breathed under her breath, her voice coming dangerously close to anger. She cursed herself, knowing that she should have expected the First Master to watch over them as she had the year before and with that it was not so unreasonable to assume she would bring company.

“Mavis could have at least created him with a shirt on…” Lucy whimpered, not quite sure where she was supposed to look.

Juvia looked up at the Fairy Tail stand, her heart suddenly racing in her chest as she took a step forwards. It pained her to see her friends again and she had been tempted to not fight in the Grand Magical Games at all. The cousins Sherry and Sherria had both convinced her that the event was supposed to be fun, good for the reputation of both wizards and the guilds themselves. The younger pink-haired girl claimed she would be no doubt fighting against her friend, too. Juvia could not explain how it was different, how the people that she would be against she truly wished to win and though a Lamia Scale guild mark pressed against her skin she felt that the people in front of her were still a part of her family.

“What is it?” Lyon asked, seeing her tense and suddenly looking to her old guild.

The fluttering in Juvia’s chest did not go away, but while a Lamia Scale mark was against her skin and the Fairy Tail mark was not she blind to the illusion Mavis had created. She sighed, her hand close to her chest as she mumbled “I thought I saw something…” disappointedly. She had been strong, trying to push back all memories of this place and the times that she had spent alongside Gray here and she had told herself not to cry on such a beautiful day. She couldn’t afford to risk the persistent rain coming back into their lives. Lamia Scale had been kind to her, far kinder than Fairy Tail had the strength to be. Lyon had continued to be extremely thankful for the day that she had ran straight to him with the terrible news those ten months ago and since that moment he had offered to care for her. Not once did he complain about the rain that followed her constantly and he even offered to make it into a beautiful snow for her. Juvia had been touched by his affection and drawn to his cold and familiar nature and he had not been the only one she had been drawn to. Sherry and Sherria had welcomed the depressed rainwoman with open arms, doing all they could to bring some stability to her life. Though it had taken a long time for her to build the strength she eventually realised she spent more time within their guild than her own and left the people of Fairy Tail to progress her new home. That had been two months ago now and her new guild mark had never itched more than it did now.

Lyon nodded, thinking that he understood her hesitation. “We all have friends and family in different guilds now,” he told her, looking up at the guild stand above them and for the briefest of moments thinking that he had seen the flicker of a familiar face within their spectators, not realising just how close to the truth he had been. “It isn’t like it used to be. The world is changing; the guilds are closer than ever now. Even before…. ever since we defeated Oración Seis, when the guilds first worked together to defeat them, the guilds have been close. Being a member of Lamia Scale doesn’t mean that you can’t be a part of Fairy Tail,” he advised her, though deep down as with most of the words he spoke to her he wished desperately that he had been able to listen to his own advice earlier. When Juvia had come to him all those months ago with tears in her eyes and guilt riddled through her body, he had screamed at her it wasn’t her fault. While she had seen he was being there for her, he knew inside even now, even after all he had done for the rainwoman, he was being tormented by the years Gray had blamed himself for Ur’s death, all because he hadn’t been able to say those words to Gray in time. At least with Juvia he could make a difference, he knew as he looked at her again and smiled. Gray may have been gone, but Lyon knew that he would have never wanted any harm to come to the blue haired girl and he would do everything to fulfil that wish.

A small smile crossed Juvia’s face as she looked back at Lyon, her heart fluttering for a different reason now. She cursed it for betraying her true feelings for the man she could never see again but the blush remained on her cheeks. “That’s true,” she told him, looking back at the Fairy Tail members and knowing that she would make this Grand Magical Games count, for both Lamia Scale and Fairy Tail.

Natsu’s eyes were still pinned on the ice mage, seeing now that he had his attention. He saw from his expression that Gray was out of place and somewhat uncomfortable, unable to control his urge to dive into the arena and aid their fight even if most of Fiore could not even see him. Natsu knew he wasn’t as useless as he must have felt, however, and knew that the flame inside of him was jumping up and down from seeing his friend again, so much so that it hurt. He gritted his teeth into a tight grin and lifted his hands into the air.

Gray looked back, standing up straighter as he caught with interest the strange hand gesture that Natsu was making. Even from this distance he could tell it was a rather imperfect version of the fist against palm hand movements Gray had usually used when casting his magic, though he was confident to the untrained eye it probably looked incredibly accurate. There was something incredibly strange to see the flame wizard pulling upon a movement that was so specifically trained for ice, and even stranger to see that as he lifted his arms those beside him did the same. Erza’s hands were against each other, her technique more accurate he noticed, but still completely flawed. Lucy too raised her arms, and even Elfman beside them. Gray frowned in confusion, not realising what it could possibly mean, but took a staggering step back as he saw it was not just the Fairy Tail members creating the strange hand gesture. A wave of arms raised across every wizard in the arena, though not a drop of ice was created, not even from Lyon. Eventually every person standing within the arena was facing the audience or stands around, each with their hand flat against their palm.

“What is this, kubo?” the games master asked as he tilted his pumpkin head to the side.

The commentator leaned forwards, his eyes gleaming in admiration. “It’s the symbol of Wizard Allegiance…” he said, watching in amazement as the symbol began to spread like wildfire across each of the guild stands. “This is a symbol wizards and their supporters started using a few months ago, showing a unity of all guilds and Magical Council members and overcoming impossible odds. This is… incredible!” he said, gasping as he realised that it was even spreading across the audience.

Gray’s eyes opened wide, realising that the entire audience was flooded with the powerful symbol of hope. Children pulled their hands together, their parents beaming at them proudly as they did the same, while the elderly confidently claimed with their own gesture that they were in full support of magic and unity. Over the past few years the world had seen too much suffering and pain, too many loved ones stolen away from the conflicts between the official guilds, dark guilds and a corrupted Magic Council. More often than not it was the innocent people who had been caught in the cross-fire, and while Gray had not been the first victim at the hands of a dark guild, the disrespectful nature of his attack had shocked the guilds into action and had become the hair to break the camel’s back. In ten months, the world had changed. The Grand Magical Games this year was not just a symbol of strength of individual guilds but one true message that all wizards were one, they would fight together for what really mattered, and they were here to show the world just how strong that they could truly be.

Gray looked back at Natsu, realising that he had been responsible for so much of this change. He had never doubted his friend would do great things but he had never expected anything so drastic, especially not in his name. Gray smiled as he leaned over the wall, resisting the urge to tell them all… that they were doing it wrong. The look on Lyon’s face showed that it was taking an incredible effort to break the habits he had drilled into him and create the imperfect symbol. It actually made Gray laugh out loud, his cheeks blushing at the tremendous display of unity in front of him. Just like the reclaiming of the guild, however, he knew that while they used a symbol he had created this had very little to do with him. He had already left this world and the people of the new Wizard Allegiance had created a wonderful place for the living. He knew with certainty that no matter what came ahead, they would be just fine.

A huge magical explosion fired into the air. “Let the Grand Magical Games begin, kubo!” shouted the king, and the crowd roared as one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! If you liked it, please let me know. Even if you don't, feedback is always appreciated!


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